New Tiaki Promise teaches visitors travel etiquette

Thursday, 1 November 2018

The Tiaki Promise gives domestic and international tourists a lesson in travel etiquette and pushes the sustainability message.

A new tourism campaign gives visitors a lesson in how to behave properly while travelling here this summer.

The Tiaki Promise is essentially a Kiwi take on pledges adopted by countries, like Iceland, that have struggled to cope with huge increases in visitor volumes.

Tiaki means 'to care and protect' in Te Reo Māori and the bilingual campaign gives tips on travelling responsibly while roaming the country.

They range from not littering and driving safely, to being prepared in the outdoors, protecting nature and respecting culture.

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The Tiaki Promise urges all visitors to do their bit to protect New Zealand by 'treading lightly and leaving no trace.'

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Tourism New Zealand chief executive Stephen England-Hall said the promise invited both domestic and international visitors to be guardians of New Zealand, and he hoped it would help prevent the sort of problems other destinations were experiencing with 'over tourism.'

'It's not a stick, it's more encouragement and education.'

Messy freedom campers have irked locals over recent summers, and poorly equipped visitors getting into trouble in the outdoors have also been an issue.

England-Hall said it was time to be explicit about the sort of behaviour expected of visitors, many of whom came from countries where there was a whole workforce employed to pick up litter.

Department of Conservation director general Lou Sanson said the Tiaki campaign made it easier to 'do the right thing' in the outdoors.

'So littering when you are walking along a track is normal behaviour for them, because picking that up is someone's job, whereas in New Zealand we'd be pretty upset about that, we'd think that was appalling.

'Explicitly saying 'take your litter with you' is a simple thing to do.

'When it's a small number of people [littering], you don't notice it, but when it's larger numbers, it becomes a friction point.'

Tourism Minister Kelvin Davis announced the Tiaki Promise initiative in Wellington on Thursday on behalf of Air New Zealand, the Department of Conservation (DOC), Local Government New Zealand, New Zealand Maori Tourism, Tourism Holdings Ltd, Tourism Industry Aotearoa (TIA), and Tourism New Zealand.

A video outlining how to care for New Zealand will be shown on Air New Zealand flights, and at DOC and i-Site visitor centres.

Tourism Industry Aotearoa chief executive Chris Roberts said tourism operators would also promote the promise to their customers.

'It will just become the way things are in New Zealand, and the way we expect people to behave.

'We do think it will make a difference because we know that except for a very small minority, visitor want to do the right thing.

'They're not deliberately offensive in the way they behave and are often taken by surprise when alerted to the fact that they are acting inappropriately. '

Roberts said the campaign also signalled that the industry, local government and DOC were taking seriously the concerns some New Zealanders had about the impact of visitor numbers, which have grown by a million in the past five years,.

'We do hear the community and we want to be seen to be responding to those concerns.'