Maori Tourism Not So Lonely
Media Release, New Zealand Maori Tourism Council
20 August 2008

Lonely Planet has released its 14th edition of their well known guidebook.  It makes special mention of ten of our best known Maori tourism experiences. Maori tourism continues to grow its strength as it develops a number of high quality, small exclusive operators around the country.  This strong mention in Lonely Planet endorses this development.

“This is great for our Maori operators”, says New Zealand Maori Tourism Council Chairman John Barrett.  “Maori tourism has developed strongly in recent years and now offers our visitors some amazing, exclusive experiences that they can participate in and enjoy all around New Zealand.  This mention in Lonely Planet helps raise this awareness with our visitors and can only contribute to our ongoing, collective success”.

“We know that guidebooks are one of the three top sources of information for visitors when planning their trip to New Zealand.  To have our operators listed in this leading guidebook is significant as it helps raise the profile of Maori tourism in the minds of our visitors.  We continually seek to educate our Maori tourism operators on the value of guidebooks and the benefits of being listed in them”. 

The listed operators include (among others) experiences such as Footprints Waipoua, Potiki Adventures, Whakarewarewa Thermal Village and the Koroniti Marae on the Whanganui River. 

They all offer exclusive visitors activities that bring deeper meaning to the region they operate in, and a greater understanding of the Maori world.  This recognition helps the collective marketing endeavors of Maori operators throughout New Zealand and supports the ongoing development of more.

Neville Forman, CEO says, “This is great news for Maori tourism.  Every time one of our operators succeed in endeavors like this, we all benefit.  We know the value of Maori tourism to the visitor experience; it’s great to have this supported by guidebooks like this”.

The Lonely Planet New Zealand 14th edition is available for sale now. Lonely Planet authors are independent, and do not accept freebies so travelers can trust their advice is impartial.

Some key facts on Maori tourism:

• There are now an estimated 350+ Maori tourism businesses throughout New Zealand
• 37% are guided tours, 15% accommodation, 15% arts/crafts, 12% attractions, 11% retail, 7% eating out, 5% transport, 5% concerts/hangi, 1% marae stay
• A large proportion are small operators, with 65% being self employed without employees
• Over 50 Maori tourism operators are licensees of Qualmark
• NZ Maori Tourism Council websites www.maoritourism.co.nz; www.livinglandscapes.co.nz

For further information contact:
John Barrett – Chairman
027 288 3771

Dawn Muir – for NZMTC Media Enquiries
027 6422 882

> click to view Lonely Planet Top 10 Maori Experiences

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