Bookme ReviewRealNZ - Doubtful Sound Wilderness CruisePosted by Cathy Livermore from New Zealand on 15 May 2024

Patea

Cathy Livermore said... Great location, one driver was really informed, the other driver didnt know too much and bumbled through his intro to the natural world. Get them to share their info and approaches and create a basic common experience for people, while having something uniquely them as well. Little to no in-depth knowledge of Te Ao Māori- the guide on the water/cruise ended up sharing more as the tour went on, but it was surface level stuff. I am Māori and I also guide on Māori tours here in AUckland casually so I have an idea of who is visiting this country and what people engage with and I know many tourists are interested in real conversations about culture and diverse worldviews. SO its just not good enough anymore that tourism operators in Aotearoa NZ still have no real understanding of the Māori WOrld beyond surface facts and superficial regurgitated scripts. I encourage you to train yourselves and your staff by having real cultural engagements and getting to know the Māori world authentically and meaningfully so you can reflect this to the world. Because you look and sound like ignorant colonisers still when you whitewash the history of everywhere in this country. We can all do better then this in 2024. So I encourage you to stop ticking the box and cashing in on the marketability of our culture to bring in your tourists and instead grow real and meaningful partnerships with Māori and provide authentic experiences for tourists without dumbing them down to superficial cultural encounters with Te Ao Māori while having your driver discuss repetitively the power plant because thats all they have to relate to in that area. I listened to hours of so many historical facts of Pākeha like they are vital bits of knowledge while skimming across Māori history and providing no real insight. The racist colonial overtones are so apparent its embarassing to realise how endemic this racism is in our country as we share ourselves with the world while seeming to be blissfully unaware of how ignorant we sound. It is an incredible place to visit and I appreciate that. I just suggest some critical reflection on the racist bias of your cultural narratives being shared with visitors to this whenua. Under 200 years of history silencing out and blatantly skimming over 1000 years of history is colonisation in action. Please stop practicing colonisation in 2024, be better, you will gain personally and your business will gain more.

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