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| WINTA chairman Ben Sherman receives a traditional Māori welcome. |
This is the time for indigenous tourism. At least that was the feeling at a Waitangi conference being attended by over 300 participants from 20 different countries, as per one Northland tourism operator.
Arranged by NZ Maori Tourism along with the World Indigenous Tourism Alliance, the third World Indigenous Tourism Summit is being hosted in New Zealand this week for the first time at the Copthorne Waitangi.
Dale Stephens, NZ Maori Tourism chairman explained that he was pleased to be organizing guests in a place so significant to the history of this country.
“The delegates in attendance are leaders in indigenous tourism. This summit gives us all an opportunity to collaborate and share ideas and solutions to issues that face all indigenous peoples in a way that keeps the integrity of our cultures intact,” he said.
Koro Carman, who is managing promotions at Footprints Waipoua, provides tourists with tours along with stories of the Waipoua Forest explained that at the conference there was a joint feeling. It started on Sunday and ends tomorrow, the time for indigenous tourism are ripe now.
“Our challenges are fundamentally all the same. It’s about sustainability, it’s about cultural integrity and all those core values, and it’s about being proud of being indigenous.
“We’ve only had one panel discussion so far, so very early days, but I think the key themes have been that it feels like our time. This is our time just to be us – it’s quite a simple concept but powerful.”
