State of the Tourism Industry 2016 survey

The State of the Tourism Industry 2016 survey is being undertaken by researchers at Lincoln University, in association with Tourism Industry Aotearoa (TIA). Even if your business, operations or responsibilities are not totally focused on tourism, we would still like to know what you think about the State of the Tourism Industry in 2016.

What to do:

o   This survey should be completed by a senior manager/ business owner within your organisation.

o   You may forward the email and survey link to others if you feel that you are not the most appropriate person to complete this survey and/or you represent a large business/organisation and feel that more than one person should participate in the research.

Things you need to know:

o   The data collected are confidential and you will not be able to be identified by your responses.

o   Your data will not be able to be linked in any way to the database through which your email address was accessed.

o   Your participation is voluntary and you may stop doing the survey any time you choose. If you stop before the end of the survey, all of the data you have provided will be automatically deleted.

o   If you complete the survey, but do not tick the ‘submit survey’ button, your data will be excluded from analysis. 

o   The survey is formatted to display on a desktop, laptop or tablet, rather than mobile devices. It is only possible to take the survey once from a single IP address. 

o   The research has been reviewed and approved by the Lincoln University Human Ethics Committee.

What will happen to the results?

o   The results of the survey are scheduled to be released in November 2016 at Tourism Summit Aotearoa. The data collected in this survey may also be used in future SOI research to benchmark change over time. Click here to start the survey.

Ireland's te reo expert Aoife Finn will visit NZ

An Irish scholar, who became a social media sensation for her support of te reo, will finally visit New Zealand.

Aoife Finn is completing her PhD on te reo Maori. Despite having spent six years studying the Maori language, Finn has never visited New Zealand - or met a Maori person.

From her home near Dublin, Ireland, Aoife told Stuff how she always marked Maori language week in her calendar.

This week, Te Wananga o Aotearoa announced it would fly Finn to New Zealand for Matariki (the Maori new year) and Te Wiki o Te Reo Maori (Maori language week) celebrations.

Te Wananga o Aotearoa chief executive Jim Mather said it was "incredible that she has maintained a passion for te reo Maori including completing a master's degree in Maori linguistics with little interaction with Maori and in a land so far from our own." Read more here.

Exchanging ideas on tourism

In 2016 TIA will be discussing tourism and exchanging ideas in six locations across the country. 

These one-day events provide an important forum to discuss the issues, challenges and opportunities facing tourism businesses as well as connecting local businesses with industry leaders. These discussions are focused on business learning, with practical tools and tips to take away and implement in your organisation. Read more and register here.

Māori are leading the way

“Bet we’re the first Māori to come here,” I whispered to Toby when we landed in Inari, a tiny village 300 kilometres inside the Arctic Circle. It was 12 years ago, and we were guests of Skábmagovat, the northernmost film festival in the world. As temperatures slipped to 10-below and an absent-minded sun wandered off from the violet, velvet sky, I figured few in the remote settlement would have heard of New Zealand, let alone Māori.

Cue Nice Lady, arriving to pick us up. “You know Timoti Karetu?" she chirped merrily. Our jaws dropped.

“Want to see our kōhanga reo?”. “They’re learning Māori?” I stammered. “In Finland?”

She looked at me like I wasn’t the sharpest knife in the drawer. It turns out the Sámi inhabitants of Inari are using the Māori language-nest model to preserve a language spoken by only 370 people in the world. Read more here.