Our story

Our Collective Response

The worldwide outbreak of COVID-19 has brought the world to a standstill. As we came together as a nation, New Zealand has responded collectively and within two months, we have been successful in flattening the curve. By the end of April 2020, the World Health Organisation (WHO) announced New Zealand has been world-leading in its response to Covid-19. Yet both our prime minister and director-general of public health remained cautious – we’re not out of the woods yet. The ‘tail’ of the NZ pandemic curve remains, and no one can predict when it might end.  So what comes next?

Āmiki support the New Zealand government in closing the boarders to flatten the curve. Restricting International travel at this time also aligns with our support of the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) and the call for shared responsibility among travellers and the tourism sector.

Indigenous Tourism – a change agent for kinder travel
The age of Covid-19 is not the first time our planet has seen faced a global catastrophe and it is unlikely to be the last. Āmiki are indigenous storytellers and our ancestors paved the way to explore opportunity and possibility. During this unprecedented time we have been looking to our indigenous wisdom and ways to guide collaborative decision making. We believe we have a great opportunity to imagine travel as a catalyst for good, and to co-design with like-minds, the tools to rebuild a kinder, more inclusive way to travel. We are part of Takiwā Tourism, a cultural tourism collective based on the duty of care of New Zealand’s’ indigenous people (Māori). We are working in collaboration with other like-minded partners and operators who view indigenous tourism as a change agent for a kinder way to travel.