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PUANGA – Whanganui
Matariki Celebrations 2007 
In Wanganui, Friday 1st June heralded the
opening ceremony of the inaugural Puanga festival.
This runs throughout the month of June and is an event to
bring communities together to share Maori cultural activities with local,
domestic and international participation.
The WMRTO has championed the establishment of this event for
a number of years now, primarily through WIECOC, the working group established
during the term of Te Awa Tupua at Te Papa Tongarewa. At its conclusion last
year, through the partnership of Iwi, Horizons Regional Council and Wanganui
District Council, the WMRTO formed a stakeholder working group to establish
this year’s event. Financial support has been provided by both the WMRTO
through project funding and Wanganui District Council.
We have a website dedicated to the festival www.puanga.org.nz which lists all the
activities and events to be staged during the month.
From a tourism perspective, this is an opportunity for
operators and artists to leverage the kaupapa (theme) and to work in with each
other through cross-promotion and packaging.
Matariki is a national Maori Tourism strategy which is
supported by Tourism New Zealand and also Air New Zealand
as a means of strengthening New Zealand’s
appeal to overseas visitors during the low season, which obviously resonates
with all of us in Whanganui who are not linked into the skiing market.
For ways in which to link in to Puanga or even forward
planning for next year’s festival, please contact us for further information
and advice.
TRENZ 07 – Rotorua
Events Centre (21-24 May) 
TRENZ went exceptionally well this year, probably our most
successful to date, especially if the follow-ups correspond with the enthusiasm
established during the buyer interviews.
Rotorua was a fantastic location for the event and
definitely put Maori Tourism firmly in the spotlight, which industry has
supported wholeheartedly as a key ingredient to New
Zealand’s proposition.
The MRI had done a superb job of producing a captivating
regional display for the industry launch of their new brand “Te Kahui Tupua”,
which had all 8 exhibitors from the Rangitikei, Ruapehu and Wanganui Districts
presenting under it and this was underpinned by the strong relationships forged
between us all.
This campaign generated allot of interest from industry and media, which has set the
platform now for the MRI to really make some inroads into the market
positioning of the region offshore.
I expect there soon to be an announcement of the new
Executive Director/CEO as replacement for Greg Howe who has resigned to take up
a position in Australia
with Queensland Tourism.
Further to the ‘Te Kahui Tupua’ trade manual, we also
produced a ‘Journeys on the Whanganui’ brochure/booklet to profile the 16
businesses that invested in our TRENZ campaign. This as always is especially
effective in promoting the offering to meet the interests of the buyers.
In addition to the two product manuals we also produced a
prospectus of our newly drafted sustainability charter, which again added a
great deal of respectability to our offering, especially as TRENZ this year and
the just released Draft Tourism Strategy 2015 are heavily committed to
sustainability. More details about the charter below.
Many thanks to Mere Whanarere and Annette Main who at
different times assisted with the stand, during interviews and at times when my
presence was better served elsewhere.
JOURNEYS ON THE
WHANGANUI KAUPAPA – Sustainability Charter 
For the last year and half the WMRTO has been working on the
development of an operator charter which shows our commitment to leading
sustainable tourism on the Whanganui River.
As mentioned in the TRENZ report above, this subject is now
the key message and focus of New Zealand’s
tourism industry.
Enlisting the services of Tourism Resource Consultants to
formulate the framework in consultation with stakeholder input and best
practice measures, we are now looking at taking the draft documents to
operators and iwi for final approval prior to implementation.
The goal is to have you the operators subscribe to its
ideals and to produce an action plan outlining your company’s procedures and
policies in addressing the principles within the charter. It is not envisaged
that this will be an onerous task for you to undertake but expect all operators
who are with ‘Journeys on the Whanganui’ to make attempts to align their
operational plans to the goals in the charter. We intend to provide assistance
to all operators to achieve this status which comes with a certification. (yet
to be named but along the lines of “Approved Sustainable Operator”)
I hope to call an operator meeting in July for presentation
and feedback on the kaupapa in preparation for roll-out prior to the start of
next season.
MAORI MARKet – Wellington Event Centre 
In late April the WMRTO attended MAORI MARKet, a new event for Wellington City which showcased Maori
art and culture, achievement, enterprise and creativity and featured paintings,
weaving, sculpture, wood, silver, bone, gold, and greenstone carving, clay, also Ta Moko.
The event was organized by Toi Maori Aotearoa with support
from Wellington City Council, Pataka Museum
and Air New Zealand. Toi Maori positioned this as a high
quality, top line event attracting locals and international visitors to buy and/or
distribute high quality Maori art.
Maori Tourism participated in support of this, with the New
Zealand Maori Tourism Council coordinating and providing the resource for MRTOs
to exhibit and promote their regions and member operators at the event.
The tourism stand was
certainly a well received accompaniment to the kaupapa, which was about
communicating Maori excellence and quality in both the creative and tourism
sectors and that each plays a complimentary role for each other.
The Maori Tourism Council had done an excellent job in designing
the stand with consistent theming for all regions.
Many thanks to those operators who provided their brochures.
These moved well and also assisted with profiling our region’s Maori offering.
   
WMRTO Cadetship
We have unfortunately lost our cadet, Nicholas
Waara to Australia
in pursuit of furthering career opportunities for him and his partner and we
wish them well.
Mere Whanarere has
temporarily filled the position to assist with the busy schedule of events that
we currently have on our plate.
Noho ora mai
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