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Whakarewarewa Village. Case Study of a Living Village and its Capacity to Sustain Cultural Tourism. Presentation Overview. Purpose Background of Whakawarewera Village Study trajectory Current visitor profile ATLAS 2006 Cultural Tourism Study Themes of sustainability
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Whakarewarewa Village Case Study of a Living Village and its Capacity to Sustain Cultural Tourism
Presentation Overview • Purpose • Background of Whakawarewera Village • Study trajectory • Current visitor profile • ATLAS 2006 Cultural Tourism Study • Themes of sustainability • Recommendations/Implications
Purpose of the Study To explore sustainable tourism development through a case study of Whakawarewera Village
Whakawarewera Village Background of Whakawarewera Village • Current community profile • Families • Demarcation of community • Community life- socializing, cooking, tangis, work, natural resources • Previous and Current tourism landscape • Te Puia vs. Whakawarewera Village • History of relationship
The Split • “One thing is for certain, the relationship between the institute and the Rahui and possibly the whole Whakarewarewa village will never be the same”- Roku Mihinui (Daily Post, 17 Dec. 1997, p.1) • “The village has been led by a nose ring but now that nose ring has started to pull through the skin and it is hurting a bit”- Roku Mihinui (Daily Post, 24 Dec. 1997, p.1) • “The comment made by a lot of people has been that the institute raped the village- they’ve taken our culture and everything up there and now say they don’t need us anymore”- Jarmie Piripi (Daily Post, 24 Dec. 1997, p.1) • “We will offer something unique, something authentic- the only place you will find a living village is in a living village and not an imitation of one”- Jarmie Piripi (Daily Post, 24 Dec. 1997, p.1)
Study Methodology • Triangulation • Participant observation • Content analysis (newspapers) • Semi-Structured In-depth interviews (employees, management, and residents) (n=14) • Visitor surveys (n=353)
Study Methodology • Question of sustainability arose from field notes • Prior to the study, no data was collected concerning tourists, employees, residents or any other facet of the tourism side of Whaka Village • ATLAS 2006 Cultural Tourism Study implemented to collect baseline data
Participant Observation • Twenty-six month community immersion • 1 year demarcation point • Key events • Finding key and secondary informants • Acceptance into the landscape • Researcher vs. Resident • Problems • Emic vs. Etic approach (language) • Culture • Informants/Politics • External influences (media)
Conceptual Framework • Goffman (1959) • Front vs. Back Stage • Examples • Back stage in jeopardy • Authenticity- both front and back stages are authentic albeit residents determine what to show and not to show • Ethical issues
Data Analysis • 550 pages of field notes • Nvivo7 • Estimated completion – August 2008 • Current themes extrapolated from in-depth interviews and partial analysis of field notes
Why is Whaka Village sustainable?(Preliminary Results) • Community cohesion • Tourism approached as secondary activity • Tourists are entertainment for the villagers as much as the villagers are entertainment for the locals • Lack of tourism knowledge • Status quo…not a career or considered work but rather considered part of life
Sustainability • Lifestyle, in general, is based on the concept of sustainability. Culturally they do not try to control or manipulate nature but rather work with it • Decisions navigate through many channels of which there are many personal agendas resulting in little actual change occurring. • Place of escape and dependency • Point of difference that cannot be copied- no need to reinvent or compete against other similar attractions as there are none in the area • Authenticity
Those visiting Whakarewarewa Village may not have originally been motivated to visit for the culture, yet once in the village, are actively seeking it out and their level of satisfaction with their experience is not based on the landscape but rather the people and culture as demonstrated through the open-ended comments section of the survey.
ATLAS Survey Methodology • Survey Template • Sampling (n=353) • Distribution and Collection • Timeframe
Objectives of Cultural Tourism Survey To describe the current fully-independent (FIT) and semi-independent (SIT) cultural tourist visitors to Whakarewarewa Village To identify influencing information sources utilized prior to arrival in Rotorua for decision-making To identify influencing information sources utilized after arrival in Rotorua for decision-making To identify complementary attractions To explore the experiences visitors to the village are having
Objectives of Cultural Tourism Survey To identify satisfaction levels To identify the importance of components of the visitor experience presently part of the village experience To identify the importance of components of the visitor experiences presently unavailable
Survey Limitations • Restructuring of questions • Language limitations • Distribution limitations • Weekend vs. Weekday visitors • FIT/SIT vs. Coach tourists
Survey Limitations • Key events during data collection period • School holidays • Springbok Tournament • World Mountain Biking Championship • Summer season for northern hemisphere visitors
Visitor Satisfaction • The overall satisfaction level, based on a likert scale of 1-10, is 8.56. • Seventy-six percent of visitors rate their visit as an 8, 9, or 10 out of 10. • Forty-seven percent indicate their expectations are met and twenty-four percent indicating their experience exceeds their expectations
Conclusions/Recommendations • Keep product status quo • Authentic • The Other • Seek UNESCO World Heritage Site status • Conduct further research on the coach tours • Create, implement, and monitor a strategic plan including focused research and marketing plans • Put residents at the forefront of decisions and employment opportunities • Provide further outlets for knowledge-seekers