A Vital Part of Tourism in Aotearoa

What makes Māori tourism distinctive is not only what a visitor sees. It is how they are welcomed, how stories are shared and how their experience connects them with tangata whenua and the whenua itself.

Across Aotearoa New Zealand, Māori tourism businesses offer experiences that cannot be separated from identity, place and responsibility. The principles of manaakitanga and kaitiakitanga help turn a tour from a commercial transaction into a meaningful relationship between hosts and manuhiri.

Economic value with a wider purpose

The 2025 Value of Māori Tourism report, commissioned by New Zealand Māori Tourism and prepared by BERL, estimated that Māori tourism contributed $1.2 billion to Te Ōhanga Māori in 2023. That was an increase from $975 million in 2018.

These figures capture production GDP—the value created through the experiences and services supplied by Māori tourism businesses and collectives. Yet the sector’s importance reaches beyond a balance sheet. Tourism income can sustain local employment, strengthen Māori enterprise and help communities carry knowledge and opportunity between generations.

The report identified 3,595 Māori tourism businesses operating in core and general tourism industries, including 756 self-employed businesses. Together, they employed more than 15,000 people. On average, Māori tourism businesses employed more staff and offered higher salaries than non-Māori businesses.

Why tourism is difficult to measure

Tourism is different from a conventional industry. It is not defined by one product being made. It is defined by the visitor who purchases a combination of experiences and services—perhaps transport, kai, accommodation, retail, arts, guiding and cultural activities during the same journey.

To reflect that breadth, the report considered three parts of the tourism economy:

• Core tourism industries, which rely heavily on visitors and often provide the main experience, such as guided tours and adventure activities.
• General tourism industries, which support and enrich a journey through transport, hospitality, retail and other visitor services.
• Other tourism industries, where tourism represents a smaller share of demand but still contributes across the wider economy.

This broad view matters because the impact of Māori tourism does not stop when a tour ends. Visitor spending can flow into other Māori-owned businesses, local suppliers, artists, food producers and community organisations.

The role of Māori collectives

Māori collectives include incorporations, trusts and post-settlement governance entities formed by whānau, hapū and iwi. They range from large commercial organisations to smaller local enterprises, but their involvement in tourism can have a shared long-term purpose.

When a collective invests in tourism, the benefit can support cultural preservation, employment, environmental care and future opportunities for whānau and hapū. The success of an experience can therefore contribute to something larger than the individual business delivering it.

The role of Māori-owned businesses

Privately owned Māori tourism businesses—from employers to sole operators—bring local voice and personal connection into the visitor economy. They offer everything from food, accommodation and arts to nature, adventure and cultural experiences.

For visitors, ownership matters. An experience delivered by Māori can create space for Māori perspectives to be shared directly, in the host’s own voice and with the relationships and responsibilities that come from belonging to the place.

What this means in Tāmaki Makaurau

Auckland is sometimes treated as an arrival point rather than a cultural destination. Yet Tāmaki Makaurau holds ancestral maunga, pā landscapes, waterways and communities with deep histories.

At Kia Ora Tours, our role is to help manuhiri look beyond a scenic viewpoint. On the maunga, terraces and storage pits tell stories of settlement, cultivation and defence. At Te Ngahere, visitors can meet a living Māori business community and understand how culture and enterprise work together today.

Small-group, Māori-owned experiences help keep that encounter personal. Visitors have time to listen, ask questions, learn kupu Māori in context and consider their own relationship with the place they are visiting.

Tourism that leaves value behind

The strongest tourism does more than attract spending. It respects local authority, protects significant places, supports good work and gives visitors a truer understanding of Aotearoa.

The economic contribution of Māori tourism is substantial. Its deeper value lies in the way enterprise can uphold culture, community and care for the whenua at the same time. That is what makes Māori tourism a vital and unique part of Aotearoa New Zealand’s visitor industry.

Source: Economic figures are drawn from the Value of Māori Tourism report, commissioned by New Zealand Māori Tourism and prepared by BERL. The report’s release and principal findings were also published by the New Zealand Government.