Tauranga Vananga will work with Cook Islands Tourism this year to offer Cook Islands Maori cultural training to local tour guides. The two agencies will work on this together, after agreeing this week to a 5 year Memorandum of Understanding to guide their working relationship as Government partners.

CEO of Cook Islands Tourism, Halatoa Fua said, “The signing of Memorandums of Understandings is a step towards strengthening our relationship with key Government Agencies as we embark on a unified approach towards supporting sustainable tourism.”

Other joint projects will include developing a Maori name for Cook Islands Tourism Corporation, and support and development for national cultural events like Te Mire Ura, and Te Maeva Nui. Cook Islands Tourism and Tauranga Vananga staff will work on these and other initiatives, based on priority areas of Culture and Language, Events, Vaka Pride, Videography and Imagery, Marketing and Social Media, and Statistics.

“Authentic cultural experiences are essential to a truly sustainable tourism industry” says Destination Development Coordinator at Cook Islands Tourism, Ms Sieni Tiraa. “Tour Guides must tell authentic stories, share Cook Islands Maori cultural values with our visitors, and play their part as guardians of our culture and heritage in the tourism industry” Tiraa added.

Better ways of working together as Government partners is one of the aims of having these kinds of agreements in place to help guide agencies on working together to achieve shared goals and objectives. In the coming months Cook Islands Tourism will formalize agreements like this with other Government Agencies to cover priority areas like Infrastructure that supports sustainable tourism, managing the
environmental impact of tourism development, and in these COVID times, Health and Safety.