Taking the Maori tourism message to the World

Maori tourism had its biggest-ever presence at the annual showcase of New Zealand’s tourism industry in Christchurch in mid-June.

Travel Rendezvous Exchange New Zealand is the biggest tourism trade exposition staged here each year, with around 350 of the world’s major tour companies sending representatives to ascertain what is new and exciting about this country.

From just a handful of specialist Maori tourism businesses five years ago, numbers have swelled significantly as more have moved to the stage of being export-ready, and thus able to offer their products and services to the international marketplace.

At TRENZ 2005, more than 30 Maori tourism operations had their products on show, effectively to the world. Others with a cultural component interspersed in mainstream operations swelled that number even further.

The dedicated Maori tourism section - which provided a corridor from the main registration area to the exhibition halls - had 17 operators in attendance this year, the biggest-ever presence.

Other Maori operators were located in their regional groupings or in the What’s New section.

The 2006 event will again be in Christchurch and an even bigger Maori tourism presence is expected at that time.

As TRENZ 2005 demonstrated , the number of operators able to fulfill the key requirements is growing year by year, on the back of strong demand for quality, authentic cultural products from the international tourism marketplace.