Tiaki means ‘to care and protect’ in Te Reo Māori, and all over New Zealand, included Wanaka, the land needs to be preserved along with its native birds. Under the banner of Tiaki Care for New Zealand, the group launched the Tiaki Promise, which outlines what travellers can do to care for New Zealand, travel safely and act as guardians of our land, waterways and oceans. 

Since its launch in  November 2018, the initiative has reached over two million people on Tourism New Zealand and Air New Zealand’s social media channels. The Tiaki website has been viewed over 15,000 times and Tiaki has featured globally in around 500 international media stories. The campaign has been created with the aim to encourage Kiwis and visitors alike to experience New Zealand in a way that keeps everyone safe, protects our environment, respects our culture and protects the country for future generations.  “We encourage communities and businesses to use the free resources available at tiaki.com to communicate to visitors what is expected of them and reinforce the campaign visitors will see as they travel around Aotearoa,” said Rebecca Ingram, General Manager at Tourism New Zealand. 

The Tiaki Care for New Zealand campaign consists of a range of digital and physical assets that have been created for industry to promote the Tiaki Care for New Zealand message. The Tiaki group also promote the campaign via such things as advertising that targets visitors, playing the content on Air New Zealand domestic flights in December, promotion at  the i-SITEs and Department of Conservation sites. The seven stakeholder organisations promote the Tiaki Promise to their customers, trade partners and staff, ensuring messaging is reinforced at visitor touch points across the country and around the world. 

“Tourism is New Zealand’s largest export earner and directly benefits our communities, but it’s important that its managed well. Tiaki was developed using research that indicated that it was important to inform people about the value New Zealanders place on our home along with guidance on how to care for it. This helps guide their behaviour to care for our home and travel safely,” said Carter. Tiaki is then supported by practical ‘how to’ campaigns that show people how to care for our home like DOCs summer campaign, Tourism New Zealand’s Responsible Camping campaign and NZTAs Driver Safety campaign. 

“It’s about these all working together as well as the significant investment and the work government has done in the tourism sector to manage it well that is creating positive change. This includes: 93 percent of Kiwis agree or strongly agree international tourism is good for the country; reductions in complaints to Council about Freedom camping; hundreds of tourism operators adopting Tiaki and promoting it visitors; 89 percent of Kiwis believe that initiatives such as Tiaki are important,” concluded Carter.