Local Focus: Kia kaha te Wiki o te reo Māori

Since 1975, Te Wiki o te reo Māori has celebrated the use of the Māori language. Now in its 46th year, Māori Language Week has again promoted te reo Māori across the motu - kia kaha te reo Māori.

In Rotorua, New Zealand's cultural capital, the tourism industry uses reo Māori daily. Destination Rotorua Marketing Manager Haydn Marriner says the language should be celebrated every day.

"One of my favourite phrases I've taken from Scotty Morrison, who's also from here in Rotorua," Marriner said. "It's really geeky because I'm actually a massive geek and it's 'turou hawaiki', and it actually means 'may the force be with you'."

"He aha te mea nui o te ao, he tangata, he tangata, he tangata," Rotorua Canopy Tours general manager Paul Button said. "What is the most important thing, it's the people, it's the people, it's the people.

"I think it's really important for us because, you know we see ourselves as a great tourism brand and we want to lead by example," he said. "[It's] part of the visitor experience 
to be true to who we really are."

The Supreme Deer Centre's Eric Geng also recognises the commercial importance of reo Māori.

"We speak a little bit of Māori language such as you know, kia ora, tēnā koutou tēnā koutou katoa, you know, further greeting to everyone and also some basics like introducing your name, and where you from such as 'ko Eric ahau, no Haina ahau'."

These tourism leaders say the use of te reo Māori and practising tikanga Māori is the mauri or life source of many local businesses and a vital part of the visitor experience.

"We encourage the growth and long term use of te reo Māori because it enables the culture to be communicated in our native language," Marriner said.

"Without us being able to communicate in te reo Māori and to be able to foster and value that, we lose part of our identity. So for us here in Rotorua and our tourism industry, our identity has been tied up in our ability to present te reo Māori to the rest of the world and so the stronger that becomes, the stronger our identity becomes."

Rotorua was declared the first ReoRua or bilingual city in New Zealand in 2019. It's now laying down the wero and challenging other cities to use the language more.