Tamaki brothers spread indigenous tourism message

The Tamaki brothers, well known for their successful cultural tourism products in New Zealand are now branching out to mentor other indigenous tourism businesses in Australia and the Pacific region.

Mike and Doug Tamaki are leaders in New Zealand tourism, delivering culturally based tourism experiences that are professional and commercially sustainable.

In April this year they opened the Tamaki Heritage Village in Christchurch to complement their existing Tamaki Maori Village in Rotorua. The new encounter adds another element to their strong cultural story, allowing visitors to experience the diverse impacts that colonisation in New Zealand had on Maori.

The Tamaki Village team is now using their successful model to help others to follow in their footsteps and create viable tourism operations. As part of this initiative they have developed a tourism strategy for the small community of Brewarrina in New South Wales.

The township of only 1,100 people, of which 80 percent are Aboriginal, has suffered a history of high unemployment, drug and alcohol abuse.

To help reverse their fortunes, the community has enlisted the Tamaki Village team to develop a series of cultural tourism products, with an emphasis on Brewarrina's indigenous history.

The Tamaki Village team draws on their wide experience in the New Zealand tourism industry, particularly their strong ability to reconcile cultural and commercial goals. This experience means they are able to advise other indigenous businesses on how to attain their cultural goals while ensuring commercial viability.

The team discovered a strong cultural history existed in the area, stretching back 40,000 years to the Brewarrina Fish traps, a set of ancient stone structures used to gather fish when the river was in flood.

Evidence of ancient mega fauna (including giant koala and kangaroo) and the recent bleak history of colonisation all add to the depth of cultural significance in this small area.

This rich history has been used to piece together a mixture of experiential and infrastructure related tourism offerings for the community that the Tamaki Village team believes can put the township on the tourism map.

Further information:

www.maoriculture.co.nz