PROJECT: Māori Culture & Tourism - NEW ZEALAND 2010-11
PROBLEM: Experiencing New Zealand's unique Māori culture is an important part of the tourism visitor experience. Tourists are often interested to learn about and experience Māori culture however, non-Māori tour guides and tourism operators are not always able to provide accurate information about the local indigenous culture. This project began as a way to encourage workers in the tourism industry to engage with their local Māori communities and learn about their language, history and culture through first-hand visits, interviews, local research, journalling and reflection.
CONTEXT: Tourism is a major industry in New Zealand and many people earn their livelihoods as tourism operators and guides.225,384 people are directly and another 158,802 indirectly employed in tourism in New Zealand – 13.6% of the total number of people employed in New Zealand. (source: Statistics NZ Tourism Satellite Account 2020) Although the traditional aspects such as kapa haka (traditional song and dance) remain important parts of Māori life - and tourism - today there is a much wider range of tourism experiences that incorporate a Māori element. Experiences such as hiking, white water rafting, art and cultural tours, and the opportunity to hear the unique stories behind New Zealand's places, people and activities first-hand are popular among visitors. The Industry Training Organization, ATTTO responsible for tourism industry training throughout New Zealand felt the tourism industry would be strengthened by offering an accredited course in Māori Culture and Tourism.
PROCESS: Identified relevant existing "unit standards" that could be "packaged" together as a short course. These would allow workers to earn credits towards a National Qualification in Tourism by completing the activities in this self-directed training program. I partnered with Tom Parsons (Māori tourism operator) who worked as Cultural Development Officer at ATTTO at the time and who was also on the board of New Zealand Māori Tourism. We visited a number of cultural tourism sites and events around the country and consulted with local kaumatua (elders) on the content of the program. Our assessment advisors helped us to develop journalling activities within the workbook that would meet the assessment criteria for the unit standards. We trained and engaged a number of Māori assessors to be able to assess the course when learners sent in their workbooks for assessment.
OUTCOME: This course not only became popular with local tourism operators, it was adopted by many secondary schools and community colleges. The course became one of the most popular training programs offered by the Industry Training Organization (ITO). A large number of tourism organizations took up the training and many learners expressed that the learning helped them engage more confidently with their local Māori communities and that they enjoyed the aspect of discovering more about these communities in a hands-on, interpersonal way. A great compliment was made by the kaumatua (elders) that this was one of the most accurate and respectful representations of their culture that had been produced in recent years. Ten years after it was initially developed, the course is still being offered in very close to the original format by Service IQ (the new Industry Training Organization).
PARTNERS: Aviation, Travel & Tourism Training Organization (ATTTO), New Zealand Qualifications Authority, Tom Parsons Cultural Development Officer ATTTO (owner of Taranaki Tours Ltd.), New Zealand Māori Tourism, Reo Māori (Māori language authority)
ROLE/S: Researcher, Instructional Designer, Team Leader, Project Coordinator.
The course was packaged as a paperback sized workbook that learners could easily carry with them. While the content provided culturally-accurate general information about Maori language and culture, the intent of the workbook was for learners to dig deeper on their own and discover the unique characteristics, and culture of the specific Maori communities in their area.
Sample page about Māori customs - throughout the workbook I chose to mix archival (historical) images of Māori as well as contemporary images to show thatMāori Maori culture is not stuck in the past but that Māori culture is vibrant and occupies an important place in contemporary New Zealand culture.
Sample Welcome page with message from ATTTO National Manager of Cultural Awareness and Development. Archival image of women giving a traditional greeting called a hongi. Māori greet one another by pressing noses, the tradition of sharing a breath of life is considered to have come directly from the Gods. The customs and meanings that surround hongi made it a unique form of welcome found nowhere else in the world.
Sample page describing the importance of kai (food) in Māori culture. In a powhiri (Māori ritual ceremony of welcome) the eating of food brings together both visitors and tangata whenua (host community) as one.
Almost every Māori community has a marae as their cultural centre and gathering place. Learners were encouraged to find an opportunity to visit their local marae and if possible, attend a ceremony or event there. In the journalling pages in the workbook, the learner has space to draw or attach a photo of their local marae, discuss what they learned about the carving and imagery found in their marae and reflect on their experience. For learners that did not live near a marae, ATTTO organized group visits throughout the year to different marae.
