Tourism target for conference

The Indigenous Peoples Business Conference will open the Takitimu Festival at the Hawke's Bay Opera House in Hastings.
The three-day conference will run from September 14 to 16 and will include the business leaders from Pacific nations and Maori organisations which are connected to the ancestral Takitimu waka.
Organisers expect 250 people to attend the conference which will be held at one of the five festival venues at the Opera House.
It was hoped the conference would lead to the establishment of a Takitimu business network for future ventures and commercial opportunities.
By Lawrence Gullerynews@hbtoday.co.nz
International tourism is likely to be the big deal breaker when Pacific nations descend on Hawke's Bay for what is being touted as New Zealand's first "Indigenous Peoples Business Conference".
The three-day conference will open the International Takitimu Festival in Hastings in September and would include business delegates from the major Pacific tourist destinations.
Festival director Tama Huata said he wanted the business conference to generate meaningful "business ventures" and not just be a "talk fest".
"By all means bring the case studies but it is the business opportunities we are looking for.
"And with the Pacific nations involved, that whole island tourism industry will be one of the main topics at the conference. Tourism is something the Pacific is very good at, in terms of the way they manage the accommodation sector like their hotels and their visitor experiences," Mr Huata said.
The festival and the business conference will include Pacific nations and Maori iwi connected to the ancestral waka, Takitimu.
Invitations have been sent out to Tonga, Fiji, Samoa, Tahiti, Rarotonga and Hawaii. And iwi likely to attend include Ngati Kahu in Northland, Ngati Ranginui in the Tauranga/Bay of Plenty region, East Coast tribes of Ngati Porou and Te Aitanga A Mahaki, Ngati Kahungunu and Ngai Tahu from the South Island.
"We've requested they all bring their best business leaders to the conference but we also have the door open for other Aotearoa iwi or other businesses to be involved," Mr Huata said.
"It's also going to be about farming, about fisheries, the creative arts industry and other land-use business, all those things we are involved in, we want to see what the Takitimu region can bring to the table." he said.
Ngai Tahu and Ngati Porou had indicated interest in attending. The Federation of Maori Authorities, which promotes the economic development of Maori organisations, and the Maori Trustee, which administers or manages Maori freehold land, were two more groups Mr Huata was keen to see at the conference.
Hawke's Bay Chamber of Commerce chief executive Murray Douglas welcomed news of the conference.
"The Chamber is fully behind all efforts to engage with and support the development of indigenous business.
"Hawke's Bay and our country needs to always strive for a point of difference and promote economic development in diverse and sustainable ways," he said.