Module 5

Tourism and Indigenous Culture

Case Study: Fiordland Monorail

New Zealand is justly famous for its indigenous Maori culture. Increasingly, travellers to New Zealand are seeking out more "authentic" experiences than those provided by the packaged tours.(Organic Explorer, n.d.)

Many indigenous people throughout the world are using tourism as a way to make money for their people. However, tourism now is a high cost venture requiring much in the way of resources, although the salaries and wages received by the people (individual operators and staff) are low (McLaren, 1999).

Tourist operations, region and indeed countries compete for the tourism dollar. Tourist operators, regions and countries must decide on the market segments they seek to attract and must consider what makes a good tourism experience for such people. Although international flights have opened up the market and made distant countries far most accessible, tourist visits even for long-haul flights are typically of short duration 1-2 weeks.  (Tourism New Zealand, 2013)

So the question is, “How do you provide tourist experiences to such a mass market, that provide the experiences that they want”?

A good model could be to look at that provided by the indigenous people in British Columbia, Canada. They provide a combination of arts and culture, indigenous hospitality and outdoor adventure (Aboriginal Tourism Association of BC, 2013).

Source: Fiordland Monorail

Part of the argument for the monorail is that New Zealand is lacking in tourism infrastructure (Fiordland Monorail, n.d.).

If we consider many indigenous people such as the Maori in NZ, a tourist may want to be able to see the scenery (the thing New Zealand is considered to have in natural abundance) in a comfortable operation that combines the scenery and native culture and experiences. Aside from the main cities such as Auckland, many of the scenic experiences are often in remote regions, requiring one day to travel to them and another day to take in the excursion. One such remote area is Milford Fiord. Even a short excursion in this place takes most of the day in the round trip from a tourist hub such as Queenstown on Lake Whakatipu.  It has been proposed that either a tunnel or a monorail starting from Lake Whakatipu could cut down the journey considerably and make it much more pleasurable than a long round trip in a bus.

Source: Fiordland Monorail Route

The monorail project will have unique benefits. Monorails are very safe. They have a low operating cost, minimise noise, and provide fantastic viewing opportunities to the passengers. The monorail will low environmental impact once constructed (and the construction road will be used for additional tourism opportunity, mountain biking). It uses a renewable energy source, electricity generated by hydroelectric power. This considerably cuts carbon emissions in comparison with the 580km round trip coach to Milford.

The project would employ 140 people during its development and 100 jobs during the peak of the tourist season. It is estimated to create another 300-400 jobs in other businesses supplying services and materials, as well as other tourism opportunities that could spin off the monorail experience. The marketing campaign for the operation will enhance visitor numbers to New Zealand. The operation will also enable more people to visit Milford Sound (the arrival times compresed at present to allow for the long trip).

Unfortunately there are few comparable experiences elsewhere. The nearest monorail tourist operation is in Sydney, Australia but it is to be dismantled.

One proposal is to take it to Darwin where it would be used to transport tourists around a cultural center for their indigenous people, the Australian aborigine as part of revitalizing the area.

Source: Northern Territory News (Artist’s impression).

Likewise the monorail project in Sentosa Island, Singapore is being dismantled to make space for other exhibits on the island. This is Singapore’s main ethnocultural ‘ experience (Sentosa, 2011).

Source: Centosa.com

A similar operation is in Cairns, Queensland, Australia, where the Skyrail Forest Cableway runs through tropical rainforest for 7.4km. Like Fiordland, this area is World Heritage listed.  Surveys indicated that the Skyrail visitor experience had improved the knowledge and understanding of the biodiversity of the tropical rainforest and its World Heritage valued status. 

Source: Skyrail (2013)

Fiordland Monorail expects similar visitor reactions to their project, enlightened maoriotanga and kaitiakitanga (Fiordland Monorail, n.d.).

Tourism offers threats and opportunities to indigenous people. The abundance of relatively cheap air travel means that the world can be viewed as a single market. Each country and each tourism operation must be able to provide a unique experience to capture the tourist dollar. Indigenous tourism is a way used in many countries to do this. Here we provide examples from Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Singapore of what might be achieved. Technology can assist the delivery of such experiences in many ways from marketing, to providing audiovisual material, to providing infrastructure for such tourist opportunities. We looked at one example where such an advanced transportation technology, monorail, may promote the tourism experience. We looked for some examples elsewhere in the world where similar effort had been used or could potentially be used to offer tourism infrastructure in a sustainable way.

References

9 News (2013, 30 June) Big Crowds for Sydney Monorail’s last run. Retrieved 25 October 2013 from:

 http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/2013/06/30/18/03/big-crowds-for-sydney-monorail-s-final-run

Aboriginal Tourism Association of BC (2013). We invite you on a journey. Retrieved 25 October 2013 from: http://www.aboriginalbc.com/

Fiordland Monorail (n.d.) The Fiordland Monorail. Retrieved 25 October 2013 from: http://fiordlandmonorail.com/

McLaren, D. (1999) The History of Indigenous Peoples and Tourism. Cultural Survival Retrieved 25 October 2013 from: http://www.culturalsurvival.org/ourpublications/csq/article/the-history-indigenous-peoples-and-tourism

NT NEWS (2012 March 29th) Darwin 'wants' Sydney monorail. Retrieved 25 October 2013 from: http://www.ntnews.com.au/article/2012/03/29/296371_ntnews.html

Organic Explorer (n.d.) Indigenous Maori Cultural Tourism Experiences in New Zealand. Retrieved 25 October 2013 from: http://www.organicexplorer.co.nz/Maori-old-directory.html#listings

Sentosa (2011) Sentosa Asia’s favourite playground. Retrieved 27 October 2013 from: http://www.sentosa.com.sg/en/

Skyrail (2013) Skyrail Rainforest Cableway -The world’s most beautiful rainforest experience. Retrieved 27 October 2013 from:http://www.skyrail.com.au/

Tourism New Zealand (2013) newzealand.com – smarter, more effective, more targeted. Retrieved 26 October 2013 from: http://www.tourismnewzealand.com/tourism-news-and-insights/tourism-insights/newzealandcom-%E2%80%93-smarter-more-effective-more-targeted/