A Living Culture, Tamaki Maori Village
Often the values and needs of sustainable tourism sit uncomfortably with the requirements of commercially-driven tourism enterprises. The Tamaki Maori Village in Rotorua, New Zealand, bears testament to the fact that the two can exist and succeed symbiotically. Founded by Maori brothers, Mike and Doug Tamaki, their driving vision of helping to preserve the Maori culture and add authenticity to the tourism experience has been fulfilled, as has their ancillary aim to develop and run a successful Maori tourism business. What makes this story even more remarkable is that success has not been achieved with aid from governments or outside funding, but rather it is a product of sheer hard work and inspiration of the two brothers, plus a little help from a Harley Davidson motorcycle.
Rotorua is the geothermal capital of Aotearoa, New Zealand. As you enter Rotorua the unmistakable pungency of sulphur in the air is a provocative introduction to the turbulent, colourful and captivating landscape which has awed international visitors for more than 160 years. Situated on the edge of beautiful Lake Rotorua, the city is located in the heart of New Zealand’s North Island. Just 230 kilometres south of New Zealand’s largest city, Auckland, the district of Rotorua has a population of approximately 68,000 people.
 Visitors are met with traditional Maori challenges and welcomes. |
The Rotorua district has been welcoming visitors for more than 160 years. The Te Arawa people (the local Maori tribe) were among New Zealand’s first hosts to international tourists. As far back as 1836, Te Arawa people guided visitors across the waters of Lake Tarawera to the Pink and White Terraces, spectacularly vivid terraced silica hot pools, which at that time were known as the eighth wonder of the world. .
By 1880, so many travelers and roaming colonials were passing through the district that Maori landowners became concerned, and this prompted the government to consider some of the broader implications associated with the rapid growth of tourists, such as the need for a permanent town base to accommodate this proliferation. Maori representatives worked with the government, and together they officially proclaimed the new township of Rotorua on October 12, 1881.
Although the Pink and White Terraces were destroyed in the 1886 eruption of Mount Tarawera, the legacy of the hospitality (manaakitanga) of the local Maori has survived. From these early days a dynamic, bi-cultural partnership between Maori and European New Zealanders (Pakeha) has developed.
While other industries such as agriculture, retail and forestry have also flourished in the area, it is tourism that remains at the centre of the region’s infrastructure. One fifth of the city’s working population is employed in the tourism industry, which must carefully balance a dynamic and contemporary attitude, with a steadfast commitment to the 600-year-old cultural heritage.
Tourism in the region, and throughout New Zealand, has tended to reflect the ideologies of the period. In the late nineteenth century, during the era of the Pink and White Terraces, Maori had direct influence on tourism in the region. There was a marked shift in the 20th Century, when Maori lost ownership of the industry. Rather than being direct stakeholders in tourism, their image and culture were being widely used as a marketing tool by Pakeha operators. Marketing and tourism products were often characterised by “kitsch” and not altogether culturally appropriate depictions of Maori culture. The culture was “portrayed”, rather than “experienced”, with cultural groups brought to hotels in order to “perform”. This approach saw the development and perpetuation of a “tongue-poking, poi-twirling, skirt-swinging” cliche surrounding Maori and their culture..
It was against this background of Maori tourism stereotypes and limited Maori economic involvement in the industry that brothers Mike and Doug Tamaki developed Tamaki Tours, and later the Tamaki Maori Village. The driving vision of the brothers was to provide visitors with an authentic, deeper, and more spiritual experience of Maori culture, and to run a successful Maori business.
It is perhaps ironic, then, that the birth of the business that was to win New Zealand’s top Maori tourism award, began with the sale of an American cultural icon — a Harley Davidson Motorcycle. In the late 1980’s Mike Tamaki had been driving tour buses around the region for a major tourism company. The product philosophy of the company was, according to Mike, very formal and rigidly clinical. It was, he says “Look up, look down, look left, look right, pay up, get on, get off”..
Not surprisingly, many visitors were dissatisfied with this superficial approach to tourism. As Tourism Rotorua General Manager, Oscar Nathan explains, this time period saw a shift in what visitors expected from tourism products and packages. “Visitors were becoming a lot more discerning with respect to what they wanted to see and the way they wanted to feel after they’d seen it.”
This shift was reflected in Mike’s interactions with the tourists aboard his bus. He found that they wanted more than basic sightseeing; they longed for a fuller, more meaningful experience. They wanted to know “who you were, the people, the places”. He had unwittingly discovered a huge gap in the market, and an opportunity to create more personalized tours which included elements of culture and storytelling..
Mike approached his brother Doug, who was the proud owner of a classic Harley Davidson. It took Mike three months of sweet-talking his brother to convince him to trade his beloved motorcycle for a mini-bus. The mini-bus, a sixteen passenger affair, was hand-painted with signs, and brochures promoting the newly established “Tamaki Tours” were printed. The Tamakis' personalized tours, laden with sights, story-telling, Maori culture and humour, began in September, 1990. In their first week of business the brothers took five people on their tour; by the end of the year they had 5,000 clients.
This success was a result of the Tamakis' vision, hard work and personal sacrifice. As Mike explains, although there were opportunities for them to get outside funding for the project, the fact that they built their business based on their own zeal and personal sacrifices made them all the more determined to make it succeed. “There were possibilities for us to get government grants to kick-start an indigenous business, but we didn’t want to go down that track because we wanted to start our own business on the same level playing field as anybody else who was going to start a business. The Harley Davidson was a sacrifice, and from thereon in there were many other sacrifices. We were always undercapitalised. We had dreams of getting bigger and bigger, but whenever we needed to spend money, we had no money left. So we learned to do business the real way, along the road of hard knocks.”.
The Tamaki brothers marketed their business on their personality and character, and before long they offered a broad range of successful tours. What set their tours apart from the competition was personality, and the fact that they embroidered their tours with Maori culture. “We laced our tours with a lot of culture — Maori culture. We consistently brought the culture into it and people really enjoyed that”.
 Re-enactment of a traditional Maori communal setting. |
One of the Tamaki’s tours was a three-day excursion into the Ureweras. This National Park, known for its ruggedly beautiful forest, is about as far removed from civilization as you can get. It was this tour that “turned us inside out”, says Mike. The brothers had hired a Tuhoe (a local Maori Tribe) guide. “He was a big guy, heavily tattooed, with dreadlocks and missing teeth. He had a huge smile, and he loved the land and the people on the tour. As we got to the edge of the forest he would jump out and do a karakia [prayer]. We went through the Urewera Forest and he completely reinterpreted everything. He spiritualized everything — the mountains, the trees, the forest, the sky, the land — and put the tourists into the environment. Once we finished this three day tour we were on a whole different spiritual plane”..
The Urewera tours became a turning point for the company. Mike and Doug realized that they wanted an authentic, spiritualized Maori cultural experience to be the centrepiece of their business, rather than as an adjunct. The brothers took a step back and looked at the infrastructure of their company. They solicited outside help from a business manager and devised a three year development plan. They perceived that there was a market opportunity for an authentic hangi (ground-oven cooked) and concert in a marae (traditional meeting place) setting. The philosophy behind this specialization was twofold. First, there was a niche in the market and the brothers had received feedback from tourists indicating that the hotel-based concerts seemed staged and plastic. Second, the brothers wanted to get local maraes working again..
Mike and Doug then sought backing from local iwi (tribe) for access to a marae for their tour. After visiting a dozen marae in the area, speaking about their vision, and ensuring that marae protocol would not be compromised, one site agreed to work with the brothers. As part of their new tour, the brothers brought busloads of tourists to the marae where they were fed a traditional hangi meal (ground oven cooked), entertained with live song and dance, and given hands-on, participative insight into Maori culture.
However, the marae tour soon proved too successful. Because of the ever-burgeoning numbers of visitors it quickly became too taxing on the marae. The tour was running seven days a week and it soon began to overshadow and interfere with all the other activities in which the local iwi were involved. It was obvious to the brothers they would have to develop their own site for a marae experience. By coincidence, their bus broke down one day alongside a piece of land that appeared to be a perfect spot for such a development. It was in native forest and was the site of an ancient fortified pa (Maori village). The land was owned by a Maori trust that was enthusiastic about supporting the development.
It was never smooth sailing for the brothers. They were developing a product that represented a traditional and sacred culture, and this meant that they had to be commercially aggressive and culturally sensitive. There was always going to be a degree of apprehension and tension associated with the Tamakis' vision of a commercial tourism enterprise, based in large measure on concerns that the culture could end up being compromised. For many years Maori had seen their culture bastardised in order to provide a clean, neat tourism industry package. Elders did not want to see similar misrepresentations in the Tamakis' business. .
There are also many important and sacred protocols associated with the marae which must be observed and respected. Therefore, a consultative process was paramount, one where iwi could express their concerns and expectations, and the Tamakis' could address and reconcile these. Six months of consultation with local kaumatua (elders) took place in order to ensure that the tourism development was culturally appropriate, while still being commercially viable.
 Visitors browse at the arts and crafts market. |
In 1994, the Tamaki Maori village began operations. By 1998, it had won both the Maori Tourism Award and New Zealand’s Supreme Tourism Award. The awards bear testament to the development and popularity of a thriving Maori business. Initially, the company employed five people; it now employs 98 Maori, with many more on the waiting list to work for the company. During a recent ten month period, on the night tour alone, Tamaki Maori Village hosted more than 68,000 visitors. The numbers continue to grow, and the Village has forward bookings to the tune of another 68,000 visitors through May 2000.
What makes the Village so special is its blend of the spiritual with culture, education, humour and participation. The evening begins with a 14 kilometre bus ride to the Village. The bus driver acts as teacher, comedian and host, advising on the protocol that is expected upon arrival and injecting his commentary with generous doses of humour. The experience is participatory, with each bus load of tourists electing a chief to represent them at the upcoming powhiri (welcome), and everyone in the aisle seats making rowing motions as if approaching the Village in a waka (canoe).
At the Village, there are traditional Maori challenges and welcomes. A warrior greets the chiefs from the buses in a traditional and fearsome manner, skillfully twirling a taiaha (Maori spear) in their proximity. The warrior then throws down a peace offering or Teka, which the chiefs must pick up as a sign of their peace and goodwill.
A conch shell sounds, and the spine-tingling welcoming song (the karanga) of the women draws the crowd into the reconstructed village. Within the village, there are re-enactments of everyday life as experienced by ancient Maori, including food preparation, moko (tattooing), weaponry, carving and song and dance. The crowd then moves to the wharenui (the big house) for a cultural performance of song, dance, and demonstrations and explanations of the ancient arts of the Maori. Once again education is mixed with humour, and the entire crowd becomes involved in the dancing and singing.
Everyone then moves off to the wharekai (eating place) where they feast on a traditional Maori hangi. The meal is followed by a concert given by the bus-drivers, and a hilarious challenge by the elected chiefs. As they leave the village and head back to their hotels, the tourists take with them wonderful memories and a greater appreciation of the Maori culture and its warmth.
The Village has also recently developed and opened a Tribal Arts and Crafts Market Place encompassing eight shops and a cafe where unique indigenous arts and crafts are manufactured. The Market Place provides local Maori artists with the opportunity to own their own small business. As a result, artists acquire important business skills while simultaneously practicing and perfecting their traditional art forms. The success of these businesses endows Maori with a sense of confidence and pride.
The educational theme continues in the marketplace, where visitors have the opportunity to interact and talk with the artists. They see work in progress and watch the artists karakia (pray over) the completed work. This adds great value to the product for the consumer, as it is not just a product off a shelf, but a contextualised piece of art that has been part of a larger experience.
The Market Place ensures strength and continuity in traditional Maori art, and provides opportunities for young Maori to develop an interest in their artistic heritage and learn the necessary skills. This is further reinforced through educational workshops on Maori arts and crafts.
Integral to business success and product authenticity has been the active and continued participation of the local Maori community. In the developmental phase, input was sought from kaumatua about local history, myths and traditions. Their expertise was also essential to ensure that appropriate cultural protocols were observed.
The relationship between local Maori and the Village is mutually beneficial. In addition to employing Maori, and providing the opportunity for local Maori artists to own their own businesses, the Village has other far-reaching benefits for both local Maori and Maori more generally. For example, the Village actively encourages the study of Maoritanga (the Maori Culture). This includes the Village’s own staff. Mike and Doug encourage employees to learn about their culture and heritage which, according to Mike, “provides our staff with a sense of pride about who they are and what they are — a sense of place and a sense of identity.”
The Village also provides a vital opportunity for urban Maori, many of whom have been disenfranchised from their culture, to be reacquainted with its richness and warmth. In fact, the Village has seen busloads of young urban Maori from South Auckland make the trip specifically to re-educate themselves about their culture. In addition, the Village has run workshops for educational groups on traditional medicine, weaving, weaponry and the spiritual side of Maoridom.
The Village has set new standards for the representation of Maori culture. By avoiding traditional stereotypes and settings, the Village authenticates Maori cultural tourism and gives it back the spirituality which is lacking when portrayed in a hotel setting. This authenticity is setting a benchmark for other tour operators, which, in turn, will break many of the Maori stereotypes that have been prevalent in the industry.
The Maori have a special affinity for the natural environment, believing that they are related to all living things through their whakapapa (genealogy). Therefore, it was natural for the Tamakis to nurture the surrounding environment. Part of the Tamakis' commitment to the environment involves a native replantation scheme in the area near the Village. Ties with the Government’s Department of Conservation, and continued overseeing by the local iwi, help ensure success with this aspect of Village growth.
The Tamaki brothers are not content to rest on their laurels. They believe that individualised, indigenous cultural tourism has massive potential in today’s global marketplace. They also have a vision of New Zealand as the spiritual destination of the world, a place where tourists can seek not only rest and recreation for the body but also spiritual revival and rest for the soul.
In terms of future development, the brothers are examining original ways to improve and expand the business, rather than just mimicking what others do. Plans are underway for a globalisation of the indigenous village concept, with a central and expanded base in Rotorua. Negotiations are also underway with indigenous people in Australia, North America and South America for parallel tourism products in their centres. Additionally, the brothers are seeking to expand their own base with a NZ$3M development of the world’s largest cultural centre incorporating the “living Maori Village”.
Mike believes that New Zealand Maori are in an excellent position to take a lead role in this kind of development as “every other indigenous nation in the world acknowledges us as being leaders in adapting to a westernised society so well and so quickly, and yet maintaining our heritage and culture so intently.”
The Tamaki Maori Village is a prime example of how a commercially successful tourism product, based in the private sector, can be socially, culturally, environmentally and economically sustainable. The Tamakis have balanced cultural appropriateness with economic viability, and this has allowed local Maori to both influence and directly benefit from the venture. It was the community influence into the Village that led to the sense of community ownership and pride. “It’s not just the Tamakis' Village”, says Mike. “It belongs to the whole community.”
Contact:
The Tamaki Maori Village
Rotorua, New Zealand,
64 7 346-2823 (Phone)
64 7 347-2913 (Fax)
http://www.travel-nz.com/Tamaki/
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