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Winston Churchill travelling fellowship

2006

Emma Louisa Groves

~ Sustainable rural cultural

ecotourism

New Zealand &

Japan Executive summary....................................................................................................4 Introduction ................................................................................................................5 The adventure begins.................................................................................................6 Auckland ....................................................................................................................6 Rotorua ......................................................................................................................6 Taupo .........................................................................................................................7 Napier.........................................................................................................................8 Wildlife sanctuary .......................................................................................................8

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Sand dunes ................................................................................................................9 Wellington ..................................................................................................................9 The south island.......................................................................................................10 Picton .......................................................................................................................10 Rugby.......................................................................................................................10 Lola ..........................................................................................................................11 Pancake rocks and blow hole...................................................................................11 Visitor’s centre..........................................................................................................11 Fox glacier................................................................................................................12 Campsites ................................................................................................................12 Lake Matheson.........................................................................................................12

Al Proposes ..........................................................................................................12 Wanaka ....................................................................................................................13 Lincoln......................................................................................................................13 Akoroa......................................................................................................................13 Myths and legends ...................................................................................................14 Meetings...................................................................................................................15

Eldad Collins ~ Rotorua Sustainable Tourism Charter. ........................................15 Barbara Collins ~ museum manager ....................................................................16 Robert Smith ~ Wildlife sanctuary.........................................................................16 Mary Donn ~ ministry for culture and heritage ......................................................17 Nadia Kimberly-Ward ~ policy advisor for the ministry of tourism.........................17 Dawn Muir ~ specialist tourism facilitator for reaching Maori potential .................18 Chrys Horn~ Researcher at landcare trust. ..........................................................18

JAPAN......................................................................................................................20 Tokyo .......................................................................................................................20 Tourism in Japan So Far ..........................................................................................20 Ueno.........................................................................................................................20 Ikebukuro .................................................................................................................21 Akasaka ...................................................................................................................21 Yoyogi-Koen Park ....................................................................................................22 The Palace ...............................................................................................................22 Japans population ....................................................................................................23 Land usage .............................................................................................................23 Japanese travelling abroad ......................................................................................23 Tsukiji fish market.....................................................................................................24 Takayama ................................................................................................................25 Kyoto ........................................................................................................................25 Himeji castle.............................................................................................................26 Nagasaki ..................................................................................................................26 yufuin........................................................................................................................26 Hiroshima .................................................................................................................27 Miyajima ...................................................................................................................27 Negativity towards tourism .......................................................................................27 Mt Fuji ......................................................................................................................28 Tokyo .......................................................................................................................28

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The flight home ........................................................................................................28 Thank you ................................................................................................................29 Conclusion ...............................................................................................................30

New Zealand ........................................................................................................30 Japan....................................................................................................................31

List of recommendations ..........................................................................................32

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Executive summary The time I spent researching in New Zealand and Japan showed me that tourism can have both positive and negative affects on rural communities. Places which produced a positive example of controlled tourism showed that it brought great prosperity to a community, and the communities that hadn’t worked to develop a strategy and control the industry have been swamped by the masses all wanting to take a piece away with them; leaving the community angry and bitter about the industry. I found that the key to good tourism is communication. Communication between the different layers involved in the industry e.g. the policy makers, the founder’s, the communities, and the visitors. The New Zealand Ministry of Tourism work hard to create channels of communication between the different parties, at present a portal is being developed making access to information easier. I believe Wales could learn from the example New Zealand has set. I want in the future to help research the possibility of opening up Wales as an Extreme Sports destination in Europe emulating the model New Zealand has created. The transport links in Japan are outstanding. Its efficiency showed highlighted to me the terrible infrastructure we have for an integrated transport link. Japan’s trains are designed never to be late. At each platform everyone has 90 seconds to get on whilst others are getting off. I believe our transport industry could learn invaluable lessons from the Japanese, which would revolutionise the UK. Japan showed me that people are interested in different cultures and traditions. Wales too could have a multi-layered tourism product: the natural environment and the cultural product.

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Introduction In 2005 I applied for a Winston Churchill Memorial Travelling Fellowship. I was very lucky to have been interviewed and ten awarded a young person’s travelling fellowship. Due to family commitments, I had to defer for a year, resulting in my fellowship happening this year in 2006. My fellowship has allowed me to travel to New Zealand and Japan. I spent 10 weeks researching rural cultural ecotourism in these countries. I am 24 years old and I am currently studying for a BSc in Countryside Recreation and Tourism, my degree is all about responsible tourism. I believe very passionately about the benefits of controlled tourism. Tourism has the ability to regenerate communities which have been in rapid decline. The problem my home town of Aberystwyth suffers is the outward migration of the younger generations forced to leave due to lack of work and affordable housing. The knock on effect of the younger generations leaving is the closing of rural amenities for example rural schools. My fellowship is about sustainable rural tourism, how a community can utilize the tourism industry as a way of creating an income and employment for the community, which hopefully might help my own home town from its rapid decline. The two countries I visited, on the surface show very different tourism products but both have an underlying reason for my wanting to visit them; both have huge national Parks Visitors figures. Japan has more people visiting its national parks in a day than the UK has in a year. New Zealand is the place to go if you’re the adventurous, outdoors type. Their promotion material uses the line ‘100% pure New Zealand’. I chose New Zealand because it has a brilliant rural tourism product. New Zealand has made the market for rural tourism a real business; many communities in New Zealand would not survive without extra tourism revenue. The tourism industry has also helped farming communities survive the slump in agriculture. The biggest draw for me to visit New Zealand was because they have produced a multi faceted tourism strategy. Obviously the natural environment is the top draw for visitors but the ministry of tourism are also promoting their unique Maori culture as a secondary product. The reason why I chose Japan was because of their unique culture. Japan has marketed itself as a place where the old and the new come face to face. The idea of the modern hi-tech world of Tokyo with the traditional dress of the kimono is something I have always wanted to see. Japan is clouded in mystery with art and language being the draw as it was totally alien to me. I wanted to see how the Japanese people feel about having their way of life, their religion and their food turned into a tourism product. I also wanted to see if they were making the most of their uniqueness as tourism information on Japan is very hard to find, which adds to the mystery of Japan.

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The adventure begins My fellowship began with a 32hour plane ride on the 10th of June, leaving Heathrow, London to travel to Auckland, New Zealand. My boyfriend Al Prichard had decided to accompany me around New Zealand for the entire five weeks of my trip, so my adventure began as a team.

The very first impression I had of New Zealand was how totally and utterly organised the airport was. In the airport, I hired a Vodafone mobile for the duration of my time spent in New Zealand. This helped my travels immensely; I was always in touch with home and was able to keep in contact with the different people I was planning on meeting while I was in New Zealand. When we arrived in New Zealand it was in the early hours of Monday the 12th June. We were terribly tired and jetlag was setting in, but the feeling of excitement was growing as we sat on the transfer bus heading into Auckland city centre. We watched a video about how to travel with ease, what all visitors should see and the top ten activities that can be done in your time in New Zealand.

Auckland We arrived at our youth hostel in the centre of Auckland to discover New Zealand was experiencing freak weather. New Zealand was in the midst of the worst winter recorded in fifty years, it was pouring down. It was raining so hard that it had caused a power cut throughout the whole city. As we sat in our darkened youth hostel, battling sleepiness we were laughing about how we had left the hottest summer on record in the UK, to experience a horrible winter. The three days in Auckland passed in a blur of jetlag. I was wide awake at 5am and fast asleep by 7pm. On the forth day, my fellowship truly began as we collected our home (Lola, our campervan) for the next four weeks. The driving of Lola was solely done by Al, New Zealand insurance regulations state that you have to be 25 to drive campervans Al is nearly 26 which meant Al had to drive the entire time. Al drove over 5,000km in 28 days. As Al drove I had to do all of the cooking, which was an interesting experience, as we only had two pans and one ring.

Rotorua We travelled straight to Rotorua on Thursday the 15th of June because on the 16th I had my first meeting of my fellowship. This was with Eldad Collins, the head of the Sustainable Tourism Charter for Rotorua. The meeting went very well. The organization is promoting the benefits to businesses regarding sustainability within the tourism industry. The sustainable tourism charter has a statement of intent which produces better practices from the businesses that have joined the charter. The theory behind the charter is that

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sustainability within businesses will have a knock on effect; helping the local community by helping communication and protecting the local environment. Rotorua is a fascinating place it is the base for most Maori related tourism products. Within Rotorua visitors can experience all types of Maori activities like the Te Puia which is New Zealand’s national Maori cultural centre. The centre is designed as a way of bridging the gap by educating visitors and locals about the difference in culture and traditions between Maori tribes. The Rotorua was historically developed as a tourism product. Rotorua is famous for its thermal hot springs. It is known to the locals as the ‘city of sulphur’. Rotorua always has the faint aroma of rotten eggs floating in the air. Historically Rotorua was also the home of the eighth wonder of the world, the pink and white terraces. The terraces were a natural geological wonder created by the volcano, it was where mud pooled and dried, only the mud had coloration in it to make it look pink one way and white the other. Mt Tarawera erupted in 1886 which destroyed the terraces and engulfed an entire village. A tourism product has sprung from the ashes, the Buried Village. The business excavated the ruins of the complete village, which gives visitors the chance to see what it must have been like for the adventurers that travelled to an unknown land and died from the power of the violent volcano.

Taupo We travelled the distance from Rotorua to Taupo within a couple of hours. We kept stopping along the way to visit interesting little villages. The weather had really begun to worsen. The rain was coming down the valleys with such force that the campervan aquaplaned on the highway. The weather had deteriorated rapidly, forcing us to abandon our schedule. We stayed in Taupo longer than expected, until the bad weather passed. We had more time to explore the unique, interesting town that is the gate way to the adventure sports in the North Island. Taupo is located on the shores of lake Taupo, New Zealand’s largest lake. Lake Taupo is known as the world’s capital for trout fishing

and holds the championships every year. Taupo is located in a geothermal area; the New Zealand government are harnessing super heated water for renewable energy purposes. The majority (80%) of energy produced in New Zealand is generated through green, clean renewable technology.

Tongariro National Park is located on the other side of the lake; this is the filming

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location for The Lord of the Rings-Mt Doom. The ministry of tourism have used this mega block buster trilogy as a tourism product. Within Taupo there are many different companies, offering variations on the Lord of the Ring Tours and guided experiences through the region of Mt Doom.

Napier We travelled on to Napier via the scenic route over the mountains. The road was closed just hours after we passed. The freak weather had produced a snow storm so thick that it had knocked people off the power grid for over a month. We arrived in Napier to discover it is a fabulous town, rich with history and character. We stayed in the hawks bay region for a couple of days, experiencing the atmosphere and trying the local wines in the surrounding vineyards. Whilst I was in Napier, I made an appointment to talk with the local museum and theatre. I met with the museum manager Barbara Collins; I was interested in how they manage the museum in regards to international tourists and the different tribes of Maori people. I was specifically looking for sustainable tourism methods within the museum and the surrounding area. The meeting went well, but I discovered that the museum have no action plans regarding international visitor figures or ecotourism and do not produce any literature in the Maori language.

Wildlife sanctuary I wanted to research ecotourism in rural areas and so we travelled to an area off the beaten track to a wildlife sanctuary. Here a meeting was scheduled with Robert Smith a sanctuary volunteer and funding coordinator. He was wonderful, he told me all about their project and explained about the funding process. Mr Smith talked very frankly about what it is really like on the ground floor.

Mr Smith stated that even though the sanctuary fitted lots of different categories for funding streams, they had never received a penny from the government or government agency. Mr Smith stated that “New Zealand works under smoke and mirrors, the only reason why it is seen as environmentally friendly is because there is so much space and very few people living on it”.

I had to agree with his thinking, it must be much easier to be environmentally conscious with only a population of one million, than it is with a population of one hundred million.

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Sand dunes We went to a place which was supposed to be the best and largest sand dune system in the southern hemisphere. Well all I can say to that claim is - you think yours are good? Come and see ours in Ynys Las now that’s a sand dune system…

Wellington I had many meetings planned in Wellington. It was essential that I had enough time to fit them all in and enough preparation time and write up time afterwards. So I spent a week in Wellington, where the weather was probably the coldest I have ever experienced. The wind blew straight from the Antarctic and chilled you to the bone. My usual out fit consisted of three pairs of socks, two trousers and five jumpers trying to keep the cold out. While we were in Wellington the temperature dropped to –15C with the wind chill. One morning we woke to find frost on our quilt inside the campervan! I had meetings with the head people within New Zealand’s tourism Industry. I met:

Mary Donn & Greg Ensor – Ministry for Culture and Heritage Nadia Kimberly-Ward – Policy Advisor for the Ministry of Tourism Dawn Muir –Specialist Tourism Facilitator for Reaching Maori Potential.

The information these people gave me was invaluable to my research. They were very important people and were very passionate about the future for tourism in New Zealand. Each person gave me an insight into the industry from different perspectives for example: -

Dawn Muir explained about the culture divide and the difficulties the Maori people have, trying to explain that they do not live in mud huts and run around with spears; but live and work just like everyone else. Dawn Muir’s role in the industry is to find a way to educate the general public on appropriate expectations regarding Maori populations. Mary Donn talked about the benefits of information gathering and sharing with in the industry. Within her office a portal has been developed to gather and distribute information to the people in the tourism industry e.g. government workers, businesses, policy advisers. Her role in the company was to educate visitors about the different levels of culture within New Zealand for example the arts and the opera are types of culture but also fish and chips on the queue is a type of New Zealanders culture.

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The south island Picton The crossing to the south island took three hours on the ferry. The weather was awful and the swells were huge. The crossing wasn’t a nice experience but something I can be proud I survived. The ferries are designed to withstand 14meter swells. Ok so they weren’t 14meter swells but at times it felt like it. The next morning we awoke to beautiful clear skies. It was the first time we had seen blue sky since leaving home. We went for a walk to see the valley which we had sailed through in the dark. It was the start of a week that has changed my life. Picton is a cute little town that always gets over looked. Tourists bypass the town and head to the ferry terminal. Picton is an amazing little place. It has the ninth oldest ship in the world. The people of Picton are very proud of it and look after the boat which now is being restored to its forma glory.

Rugby The ministry of tourism have developed away of selling there culture in a positive way, New Zealand offers you the chance of being a real kiwi for the night by going to a rugby game. The ministry of tourism are offering visitors the chance of experiencing an authentic ‘All Blacks’ night, by offering cheap deals to international visitors. We spent the night cheering on the ‘All Blacks and had a fabulous time.

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Lola We spent hour after hour driving on the windy roads in the south islands; Up one hill and down another. Our little campervan hated the hills. She moaned all the way to the top and zoomed down the other side. One day after driving for seven hours I decided that our campervan needed a name and that from this day forth she would be ever be known as Lola. Lola had a few problems, she leaked like a sieve. With the amount of rain we had, the campervan was always soaked. She also had a very strange oil gage, one minute it would be half full the next flashing empty and the gray water tank never filled it just poured on the floor, but saying all that we loved her.

Pancake rocks and blow hole On the west coast there is a place called pancake rocks and blow hole. It’s a place that is made up from soft lime stone. The stone is getting eroded quickly from the pounding of the sea. The sea has carved a cave (with no roof) into the cliff; when it is high tide the force of the water spouts up from the under the cliff making it look like a whales blowhole. It was really impressive we made it for high tide. Al and I saw some impressive spurts. The truth of it was that it was much more fun trying to capture them on the camera as every time we were not fast enough, and so were constantly getting covered in ice cold sea water.

Visitor’s centre New Zealand has one of the best Tourist Information Centres (TIC’s) networks in the world. The offices are run by the local county council but overseen by the ministry of tourism. The TIC’s in New Zealand are run as information centres which make money. All offices offer the ability to organise your activities and accommodation, minimising stress on the visitor and maximising the areas tourist revenue. The TIC’s work to the model that the more they promote, the more commission the office makes, the more the TIC’s reduce their overheads; it’s a win, win situation.

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All tourist information centres have a restaurant; internet facilities; free private parking; and immaculate shower and toilet facilities for the tourist’s camper vanning around New Zealand.

Fox glacier Fox Glacier is the place where we spent a few days walking. The weather was wonderful and the views spectacular. I decided that as I had never seen a glacier we would spend a couple of days exploring the area. The Glaciers are a huge tourist product. In the area there are many businesses offering glacier trekking, helicopter tours and even glacier caving. The view of the glacier was amazing; we walked all the way to the terminal moraine. Looking at glaziers is kind of looking at the real harshness of nature; it is amazing how they sculpt the terrain.

Campsites New Zealand has developed a tourism industry which is strong and sustainable. The industry knows that to see New Zealand properly you need your own transport; campervanning has become the way to do this best. New Zealand has worked hard to develop a standard of facilities which is beyond expectations. The standard of the campsites was better than five star hotels. A campsite in Christchurch had the most amazing swimming pool with slides and a Jacuzzi. The same campsite had facilities which had heated floors and leather arm chairs for watching the many sky channels in the TV room.

Lake Matheson Lake Matheson is the bit of my fellowship which was the biggest surprise. We decided to watch the sunrise over the mirror lake; it shows mount cooks reflection perfectly. The alarm went off, I tried to convince Al that we should stay in bed, but he was adamant we should see this once in a life time view. So as its FREEZING I put on about seventeen layers of clothing. I couldn’t be bothered to brush my hair or teeth and went for this once in a life time walk.

Al Proposes The spot which shows the view is called island of reflection. The view is spectacular; the sun rose making the mountains turn pink in colour. I’m standing there gawping at the scenery thinking about tucking into an energy bar when Al goes down on one knee opens a jewellery box and says “I love you and I want to spend the rest of my life with you” I was stunned!!

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Al and I were good friends in secondary school. We both left our home town to travel separately. We met up again and began to date, three years later he proposes and now we are planning our wedding for the 22nd of December 2006.

Wanaka We drove to Wanaka after watching sunrise over Lake Matheson; in Wanaka we celebrated our engagement with a lovely meal and some fine wine. We spent the

evening in an Inn where we spent our time by an open fire, looking out over the snow, laughing at the strangeness of seeing snow in July. Wanaka is on the extreme sports person’s wish list for a holiday. It’s rural, it’s beautiful and more importantly it has developed a year round adventure tourism product, snow boarding in the winter months and white water rafting in the summer. Wanaka is a town that has developed a good example of

sustainable tourism, products for everyone all year round designed not to adversely impact the natural environment.

Lincoln From Wanaka Al drove for eight hours to Christchurch where I had another meeting. I met a lady called Chrys Horn she is a co-author of a document looking at whether or not Maori culture can be used as a tourism product. Chrys Horn works in the Land Care Trust. Chrys’s research is specifically in rural areas. She helps a community develop a tourism strategy that is year round and works in a sustainable environmentally friendly way. Whilst I was meeting with Chrys, I suddenly realised how big and diverse the field of eco tourism is. What struck me even more is how diverse the problems associated with the tourism industry are. Chrys Horn was very enthusiastic about my research and she suggested different articles I could read to follow up on.

Akoroa After my meeting we drove to Akoroa, it is on the tip of Banks Peninsular. Akoroa is a unique rural town a couple of hours away from Christchurch. The town is very beautiful it was founded by a ship load of French settlers which has made it very French in spirit.

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Akoroa has the largest private bird sanctuary in New Zealand. The Thomas family decided in 1998 to put an electric fence around the entire estate and poison all the vermin creating a sanctuary for New Zealand’s native and migrating birds. While we were in Akoroa we went on a cruise around the harbour. The harbour is formed from an extinct volcano crater making the waters very deep, surrounded by high mountains. The harbour makes a perfect breeding ground for migrating whales, dolphins and the native fur seal.

Myths and legends In New Zealand the Maori people have countless myths and legends, the Ministry of Tourism are using the myths as interpretation. Where ever you go in New Zealand you will stumble across interpretation, depicting both the myth and the science. For example the legend behind Jade, in the Maori community jade is a status symbol, passed down from generation to generation. The myth behind jade is that a wizard kidnapped a beautiful married woman, her husband tracked the wizard and before he could save his wife, the wizard turned her into the stone to stop her husband from ever finding her. There is a river which jade is commonly found and by the lay-by there is interpretation explaining the myth and also the science of jade. I watched the people reading the interpretation panels and found that more often then not, the women would read the myth and the men would read the science. I believe this catered for different types of people the scientific and the romantics a perfect use for interpretation.

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Meetings Eldad Collins ~ Rotorua Sustainable Tourism Charter. Mr Collins developed the sustainable tourism charter as a way to work in harmony with the environment. Mr Collins realised that with the influx of visitors to the region meant that the surrounding environment was in danger of deteriating. Mr Collins decided that a partnership needed to be introduced to assess carrying capacity strategies and develop good business sense regarding the tourism industry and the environment. He summarised that the decline in visitor figures would negatively impact the community, through lack of tourist revenue and subsequently the increase in possible unemployment and the migration of the younger generations having to find work else where. Physical Social/Cultural Economic

Sustainable tourism:

• Achieves development that is compatible with ecological processes, biological diversity and biological resources • New Zealand’s target tourism market, the interactive traveler, are environmentally and culturally aware and have an expectation of high quality • The interactive traveler also understand the impacts of tourism and appreciate operators who are the same • New Zealand Tourism Strategy 2010: actively protect, support and promote our natural environment to ensure that tourism growth is sustainable

Sustainable tourism:

• Provides opportunities for social inclusion that is compatible with the culture and values of the community • Designed to benefit local communities and to generate and retain income • Sustainable tourism has proven to revitalise cultures and traditions • New Zealand Tourism Strategy 2010: promote social and cultural equity, and increase the quality of life for New Zealanders

Sustainable tourism:

• Ensures the economic stability of tourism businesses and strengthens opportunities for future growth • Increases the market share of Rotorua tourism businesses, and therefore the long-term viability of the Rotorua tourism industry • Interactive travellers are of growing importance to New Zealand. To cater for this market will achieve economic benefits • Creates efficiency savings within businesses • New Zealand Tourism Strategy 2010: grow the wider economic benefits of tourism, with a strong focus on business yield

What I learnt from Mr Collins was that determination to do help is never a bad thing; he has managed to achieve lots even though it was just one man. A also realised that an ethical company which is designed to better the community and the environment is something to be involved with in my future working career. Mr Collins started the Charter from his spare bedroom because he believed in the idea, now Mr Collins is employed full time and works as a consultant for other areas that want to set up a sustainable tourism charter.

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Barbara Collins ~ museum manager Mrs Collins is the museum manager she is responsible for the day to day running and the marketing of the attraction. Napier is off the beaten track and often gets over looked by visitors to New Zealand. The reason for interviewing the local museum was because I was interested how rural communities keep such a product alive. Mrs Collins spoke about funding streams and how they are funded through Te Papa the national museum in Wellington. The museum at present is going through a huge transformation as the Ministry of Tourism have began a campaign to ‘get of the beaten track’ and Napier is the example they are using. Napier is one of the world’s finest examples of art deco architecture; Napier in the 1920s was levelled. The entire area was turned into rubble within three minutes. The worst earth quake ever recorded to hit New Zealand was felt as far away as Japan. In the interview I was spersificaly asking questions regarding environmental practices and weather or not the museum had developed strategies designed for different user groups. The information Barbara Collins gave me was invaluable because it showed that sustainable, environmentally friendly practices were not implemented in the day to day running of the museum which is one of the biggest tourist attractions in the town.

Robert Smith ~ Wildlife sanctuary New Zealand is a country which historically had no Mammals other than bats; the only wildlife on the lands of New Zealand was Birds. Some of the birds in New Zealand had evolved into ground dwellers which varied in size from a small chicken type bird to a huge ostrich size bird. Since the introduction of mammals brought over by settlers, the native birds are on the extinction list. The wildlife sanctuary that Robert Smith works in is set up as a hospital and protection area, the pararimiter is guarded with an electric fence and poison is used as a defence against the wild cats and ferrets. The sanctuary believes in rehabilitation and protection and manages to protect the unique wildlife with no financial help from the government. Robert Smith the wildlife sanctuary co-ordinator stated that funding is a continues, up hill struggle. All costs of the project are raised by the workers through fundraising schemes and donations. Mr Smith states that most organisations protecting the wildlife are government run, and sometimes they work for the wage not for the love of the animal. Mr Smith was probably the best person I spoke to as he was able to dispel a myth about the availability of funding, in all the literature it often talks about the availability of funding and the problem of little take up. What Mr Smith said is that he applies

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regularly for funding with no success this shows that the top down approach isn’t working in this case.

Mary Donn ~ ministry for culture and heritage Mary Donn is the minister for New Zealand culture and heritage, the role of the organisation is to protect the buildings of interest and promote a sense of culture, culture in resent times is up for debate on what actually does culture mean? Culture in Mary Donn view is obviously promoting the arts and the opera but it is also eating chips on the que, wine tasting in Hawks bay region or eating buff oysters in the south island. Promoting the arts and promoting the flair and the uniqueness of a nation. New Zealand is a new country it is less than 200 years old, it is a country that has endured hardships but has come out smiling. New Zealand’s susses is because of the people that have moved out there, to travel to a different unknown land you must have to have a fighting spirit. The Ministry for culture and heritage wants to promote there entrapannurial spirit. The way the ministry for culture and heritage plans to promote New Zealand is by creating a portal. An information centre for everybody in the tourism industry, the portal will be a way of communicating ideas and a way of keeping New Zealand at the forefront of the tourism industry.

Nadia Kimberly-Ward ~ policy advisor for the ministry of tourism Nadia Kimberly-Ward works as a policy advisor for the Ministry of Tourism, her role in the industry is to write and update strategy for the industry. Nadia is working on the future 2020 strategy and the update for the 2010 strategy. The 2010 strategy talks about secondary industries and the better utilization of the products currently on offer. New Zealand’s tourism 2010 strategy isn’t about increasing visitor numbers by millions, the strategy is about increasing visitor spend by just 1% the industry in 2002 saw 2.04 million arrivals with an international spending of $6.1 billion, up by 28% from 2000. The strategy states that the tourism industry is financially the biggest earner with agriculture/forestry a close second. The strategy is about improving quality, standard and information. The Ministry of Tourism works as a buffer a way of promoting the product without causing problems with the local communities.

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Dawn Muir ~ specialist tourism facilitator for reaching Maori potential Dawn Muir works for the Maori community within the tourism industry. Dawn spoke about the barriers that face the Maori population and the action plans the Maori council have put in place, to curb the negative impacts. Maori people are commonly advertised as people still living in grass huts and covered in tattoos, the image of the Maori is perceived as a tribe of people stuck in the modern world living as if they are still in the past. The organisation that Dawn Muir works for is working for a better understanding of the Maori culture and heritage, the Maori culture is rich and very diverse as each tribes have different believes. Modern Maori culture is rich with new hip hop style music and culinary delights proving that the Maori populations have moved with the time only the visitors preconceived notions haven’t advanced with the time. Maori tribes work as partnership, when a Maori tourism product is on offer it is commonly a whole tribe/ family working as a team. The Agency which Dawn Muir works for He Toa Takitini is designed to help these syndicates to succeed. The agency provides business and financial help with the aim of bring more authentic Maori products into the industry. Ms Muir spoke about one of the biggest problems is that Mori people are most likely to be seen doing menial work, construction etc it is a very slim proportion of Maori people to work in an office environment and even fewer in positions of authority.

Chrys Horn~ Researcher at landcare trust. Chrys Horn is a co-author of a research document titled Demand for Maori eco-cultural tourism. The article is a piece of research which has been used as a base for finding the current level of Maori cultural tourism and the understanding of what actually is Maori eco-cultural tourism. Chrys Horn was a wonderful lady during the entire interview she bounced on a giant purple Pilate’s ball, she was animated and very passionate about tourism and the benefits it could have on a community but she wasn’t blind about the negative impact tourism can inflict. Chrys talked about different problems she faced with her research and how I could follow different paths regarding my own research so I wouldn’t make the same mistakes. Chrys was passionate about authentic Maori attractions; she worked for many different organisations working for equality and proper representation of the Maori culture. Chrys believed that the Maori culture wasn’t unique as the tourism industry is advertising; most Pacific islands have a version of Maori only no other islands

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have New Zealand Maori. Chrys Horn works tirelessly educating the industry and the policy makers about all the Indigenous communities living in the pacific.

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JAPAN Tokyo I left Al in Sydney airport, from here on out I was on my own. I flew onwards to Japan; I arrived in Tokyo international airport first thing on the 16th of July. I had pre booked my hotel and had been given detailed instructions on how to navigate the underground and the sky railway, the only problem with the instructions was that at no point did it actually say the name of my hotel so I had to follow the instructions and hope that at sum point I will stumble across my hotel, after a while I found the hotel and went to sleep as I had not been able to sleep on the plane due to a combination of excitement and apprehension. I woke up to discover it had begun to rain and not just light summer rain; I am talking ‘all out’ torrential rain! Once again I had landed myself into another case of freak weather. Japan was seeing an extended rainy season; whole villages were getting washed away due to mudslides. The rainy season was supposed to have ended a month before but during the extended rainy seasons the weather had coursed a surge in water flows bursting river banks and flooding many parts of southern Japan killing 16 people.

Tourism in Japan So Far In February 2002 the FIFA world cup games were held in Japan, opening up the country for the first time as a tourist destination. Since the world cup tourism has been on the forefront of Japanese policies. The Prime Minister Koizumi announced that he hopes to raise visitor figure to 10million international arrivals by 2010. The figures are looking very hopeful as each year the tourist arrivals are increasing last year a total of 4.37 million visitors entered Japan; this is a rise of 13.8 per cent from the year before. The World Tourism Organisation estimates that tourist figures visiting East Asia will rise 6.5%annually from 1995 – 2020 reaching 400 million. The Japanese government have implemented a board of people to help build japans tourism profile. The board is called the Tourism Promotion Council and they are responsible for the tourism strategy. The council are now marketing for Korea, Taiwan, United States, China, Hong Kong, United Kingdom, Germany and France under the campaign banner ‘Visit Japan’.

Ueno I began my Japanese adventure my finding the cultural centre of Tokyo called Ueno. Ueno is the area where the many museums are located; I spent the first day walking through the many halls of antiques trying to grasp what it was all about as absolutely nothing was in English. By the time I made it back to my hotel I had been around two different museums and an art gallery and I had found no interpretation in

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English. That night I tied my hardest to find a Japanese restaurant only all I could find was Mc Donald’s and KFC to my disgrace my first meal in Japan was a KFC.

Ikebukuro The second day of the Japanese leg of my trip was filled with even more rain; I had not packed any clothes for the rainy season so I was walking around in flip flops trying to find a shop that would sell cloths for a 6foot1 woman. What I very quickly realised was that I wouldn’t have any success as I was a strange phenomena all Japanese people are very short and even in a cosmopolitan place like Tokyo, I was still an anomaly. While I was on the subway people would either try out their English on me (I always tried to answer them even if I wasn’t sure what they were

asking) the other more disturbing things they would do to me is they would stare (like I was an alien) or they would touch my hair. I realise it is probably because some Japanese people have never a seen tall, blond and blue eyed girl before only it was a bit intimidating at first.

Akasaka I had chosen Japan as a location to visit as they have a unique culture with myths and legends as an every day way of life. I began my search for an understanding of Japanese culture in Tokyo; I decided to find Japanese Culture by going to Hie-Jinja temple. While I was in the

temple I was very fortunate to witness a Japanese marriage, the woman was in full Kimono, the wedding was rich with tradition once again I wished I could understand all the words spoken around me.

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Yoyogi-Koen Park The day had begun with rain clouds which had finally passed so I headed for the park, to do some people watching. The Yoyogi-Koen Park is where Japanese people go on weekends to show off there many different costumes, the park is divided into gangs and each gang has a different out fit e.g. Japanese Elvis’s

• Bosozoku – motorcycle gangs brightly coloured cloths and big bikes

• Ko Gyaru – a group of high school girls wearing extreme clothing, very high heals and very short skirts.

Just like in New Zealand where eating chips on the Quay is apart of their heritage and culture, watching the different gangs perform in the park is apart of Japanese every day life and is being marketed as culture.

The Palace On Monday the 24th I visited the imperial palace, in the centre of Tokyo. The palace is shielded from view but the east gardens are open to the public, here was my first sight of a Japanese garden. Japanese gardens vary between natural beauty with pools and ornate bridges with cherry blossom trees placed to give shade to the more extreme Zen gardens with pebbles symbolising nature’s beauty.

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Japans population In 2005, Japan had a total population of 127.76 million. Japan's population in 2005 was the tenth largest in the world, equivalent to 2.0 percent of the global total. The population pyramid shows that the population of Japan is aging. In Japan is filled with aging people and the birth rate is falling. There are a few possible reasons behind change in the population dynamics. It could be the result of women being better educated resulting in having the choice of not having children and opting for a carrier instead. Another possibility is when a country becomes a developed nation the reason for having large families - a way of supporting the parents in later life isn’t needed due to better health care and education.

Land usage Land mass of Japan is relatively small - 380,000 square kilometres, a figure equivalent to 0.3 percent of the global land mass. A surprising fact about Japan Is only two rivers in the whole country are left intact without human alteration. In Japan 97% of the land mass has been human sculptured, an estimated 80% is forestry and agriculture and the other 20% is Buildings. With one of the largest populations and one of the smallest land masses the wildness was replaced with rice growing and buildings to accommodate all the people.

Japanese travelling abroad In 2004 4.37million people entered Japan from abroad, this figure is

ridiculously small compared to the amount of Japanese people who travelled abroad in the same year; 16.83million Japanese people travelling abroad.

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Tsukiji fish market The degree I study is wide and varied, it looks at tourism and the human impact on the environment and how we could help reduce the damages done. There is a big issue regarding over fishing the seas, resulting in the depletion of the fish stocks. Japan is known to be one of the biggest contributors to the problem; the Japanese society revolves around sea food.

Tsukiji fish market is where all the sea food comes after it has been fished from the high seas; the market begins very early with the tuna auction. I became quite distressed at seeing the rows upon rows of whole tuna, what distressed me the most was how the fishermen cut of the fins off. Cutting the fins off stops people being able to identify if they are endangered or not. The whole experience for me has made me choose never to eat fish again, I believe in moderation the market is estimated to have around 4million fish for sale each day.

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Takayama Takayama is a small city which has managed to keep its traditional feel, the city is famous for making Sake (a rice wine) the traditional breweries are a huge draw for visitors. Takayama is perfectly situated for the Hida and Chubu-Sangaku National Parks; Takayama has a fabulous transport network exploring the surrounding area is very simple as everything is on the train line. All the activities in Takayama are located in the city making it a perfect tourist destination. The traditional way to explore Takayama is on bikes, it was a bit scary as the traffic was very fast moving.

Kyoto Kyoto is a must for anyone visiting Japan. Kyoto was the capital of Japan before the war, when Japan lost the war the government moved the capital to Tokyo.

Kyoto is an interesting city it is stacked with history and rich with Japanese culture, in Kyoto I saw more temples than I possibly could remember there is over 2000 different temples in and around Kyoto. The temple in the picture is okochi sanso I went on a walking tour where I walked around shrines, temples, gardens and bamboo forests. The weather had finally stopped raining, the temp had soared to 42degrees with 70% humidity it was terrible. The combination of the heat and the humidity was too much for people. People were passing out in the street due to heat exhortation.

Kyoto was my first proper taste of Sushi, I was a little nervous about all the strange looking fish bits but by the end of my time in the sushi bar I had eaten eel, squid, octopus and the best one was the tuna and salmon ones. In Kyoto I had my first glimpse of a geisha girl; she was made up in full costume running to catch a taxi.

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Himeji castle Himeji is a beautiful traditional castle built in 1580; the castle was luckily spared in the bombing WW2. The castle dominates the town of Himeji; the castle is situated on top of a hill. The local people call the castle the ‘White Egret’ as it stands tall and proud on top of the hill. The castle has been the home of 48 successive lords; with many different fortifications the castle is able to defend its lords with complete success. The castle is location of the blockbuster film the Last Samurai.

Nagasaki I travelled to Nagasaki on the Shinkansen a bullet train; the experience of travelling on the trains was equivalent of travelling first class on a plane. The average speed of the Shinkansen is 200kmh but can reach speeds of over 300kmh.

I chose to travel to Nagasaki because there was a Japanese drum festival happening, the festival was amazing the atmosphere was brilliant. The festival was held in the peace park there were hundreds of people performing the sound of the drums vibrated around the city; it defiantly is an unforgettable experience.

While I was in Nagasaki I spent a day walking around ground zero for the atomic bomb, I then went to the museum which was a heart braking experience. I found the experience very moving and totally distressing, I decided that if I ever have children I will take them to Nagasaki and show them what the people of Nagasaki endured from the radiation and the explosion.

yufuin Yufuin is a rural village famous for its hot spring’s as it is located in a volcanic area of Japan. I spent a couple of days travelling around the area walking the different mountains exploring the different Onsen’s (hot springs). Yufuin has seen a dramatic rise in visitor figures the town has turned into a ‘honey pot’ site during holidays and weekends. Yufuin even has no interpretation in English making travel in Japan an interesting experience.

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Hiroshima Hiroshima suffered terribly the people, the land everything was destroyed. I felt num walking around Hiroshima all those history books I have read was nothing compared to going to the actual place and seeing for myself what happened to the people there. The museum showed videos of people talking about their experiences with the a-bomb, the stories broke my heart. In the peace museum it shows a counter showing how many days it had been since the last nuclear test, the clock showed 143 days!

Miyajima Miyajima is an island of the cost of Hiroshima, when the blast happened the resident monks on the island, gave up the belief the women should not be allowed on the island and evacuated survives to the island. The island is covered in shrines it has a huge torii gate floating off shore; the view of the torii gate is the most photographed image in the whole of Japan. The island is a holiday destination for a lot of Japanese people; the island is packed out throughout the day and is deserted throughout the night. The island is covered with tame dears that course mischief by stealing food from unsuspecting visitors.

Negativity towards tourism The tourism industry often is cited as a negative industry due to the demand of low skilled poorly paid work. Alex Kerr author of Dogs and Demons identifies tourism as one of the greatest failures of modern Japan. He believes that because of Japans rapid industrialization they have managed to destroy most of what is ‘authentic’ about Japan, he uses the old wooden buildings in Kyoto which were torn down under the term of modernization as an example. I would agree with his comment that Japan didn’t protect buildings in the mad rush for industrialization but I do believe that Japan hasn’t lost all authenticness; it is just a bit lost and needs proper guidance regarding tourism and good quality tourist products. I do believe that with correct guidance Japan has the ability to become a key player in the tourism industry.

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Mt Fuji For my sins I decided that I would clime Mt Fuji, just so we are all clear I am a relatively fit person but I swear that climb nearly killed me. The problem with Mt Fuji is that it is just a 3776meters pile of pumice dust. When you walk up Mt Fuji the stones move from underneath so you feel like you never have a sturdy foothold, it is kind of like surfing or a better description would be it feels like your skiing down a giant black pile of dust.

An estimated 200,000 people climb Mount Fuji every year, 30% of whom are foreigners. The ascent can take anywhere between 3 and 7 hours while the descent can take from 2 to 5 hours. The sheer number of climbers each year has created a litter problem on the road to the summit. The main problem that I found was people were climbing the mountain without any equipment or proper walking gear. I stayed in a mountain hut at the 8th station on the way down from the summit, I saw people falling asleep behind boulders wearing nothing more than shorts and a t-shirt. In the day time the sun is out and is quite warm on the mountain but at night the temperature drops into the minus figures, climbers without proper clothing are at a serious risk of hyperthermia because of all the sweating and the fatigue.

Tokyo From Mt Fuji I travelled back to Tokyo, the experience of travelling around Japan is something I will never forget as I was sitting on the Shinkansen train, every mussel in my body was hurting. I was filled with an enormous sense of pride I had managed to achieve more than I could ever imagine. I had three days left in Tokyo and to be truthful I wasn’t really looking forward to going back, I live in a very rural part of the world, Aberystwyth feels like a million miles away from the hustle and bustle of Tokyo. The last three days of Tokyo was spent wondering around the many different shops in the sopping districts of Tokyo.

The flight home I was unfortunate lucky enough not to land myself in the chaos of Heathrow on full terror alert. I arrived a few hours earlier before the chaos truly hit. The problem was with terrorists bringing liquids onto American planes. The only problem I had was I couldn’t get of the plane fast enough. I pretty much ran through the airport to see Al again, he was standing there with a huge bunch of white roses.

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Now I am home and I have nearly completed my report, I am starting the preparations for my wedding. When Al first proposed I wanted to get married at home but now we have chosen to bring our wedding forward to the 22nd of December. We have decided to get married in Lapland, in the famous Ice hotel, with just family as our guests. Al proposed in New Zealand’s winter it feels right to get married in winter.

Thank you I would like to thank everyone involved with the Winston Churchill Memorial travelling Fellowships; it truly has changed my life. You have given me the chance to prove to myself that anything is possible, this time last year if you would ask cold I go into a meeting of the head people in the tourism industry and old my own I would have laughed. One year on, after having been given this amazing opportunity I proved to myself I could do it. I now believe the sky is the limit, I can not wait to make a difference in the world of ecotourism.

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Conclusion New Zealand Tourism in some countries evolves organically without any manipulation or direction, New Zealand isn’t one of these countries. Every visitor that go’s to New Zealand has been successfully brought there by New Zealand’s very impressive tourism organisations and tourism strategies. I have travelled extensively, as I child we travelled due to my mums work and as I have gotten older on my own as a backpacker. I have never been anywhere which can compete or even compares to the tourism infrastructure New Zealand has. The thing that makes New Zealand different is they specialise in the minute detail, for example even on the transport bus from the airport into the city, the bus plays a film made by the Ministry of tourism, about what to do and where to go in New Zealand. The experience I have gotten out of travelling to New Zealand is just how important it is to try and make a go of things. The whole time we were travelling I kept repeating ‘everyone is an entruapanure here’ this might be idealistic but I kept coming back to the fact that, the people who went to New Zealand went with nothing. If they did not pack it, then they had to make it or go without. The pioneers managed to achieve so much from nothing in such a short space of time. The best example of the entrapanurial spirit is, there is a huge lake with nothing on it and a business man called Dave. Dave had some spare golf balls so he decided to build a raft and see if he could make his golf balls land on to the raft. Once people realised what he was doing, they were paying him to see if they could hit the raft. Now the business is quite a little money spinner, he charges people to hit balls onto a plat form. If they manage to get a ‘hole in one’ they win a golf bag and clubs. After I interviewed him Dave confessed that it has been months since anyone had a hole in one, as I walked away there were ques of people waiting to have a go at hitting the golf balls. The best bit about his ingenious business plan is the local dive school collect the golf balls from the bottom of the lake as a hobby. Tourist information centres in the UK can very on quality, the reason for the differences in standards comes from the fact that the local county councils are responsible for funding and quality of service. If the local council see the benefits of promoting their community to tourists, they give the TIC’s an adequate level of funding resulting in a good information centre, if the local council don’t see the benefits in tourism they slash the funding resulting in a poor example of a tourist information centre. Tourist information centres in New Zealand are funded by the local council but also have a secondary source of income from the camition earned from selling local activities and hotels in the surrounding area. I believe this does not make the TIC’s totally selsafisiant but it proves a worth to the council. Having the TIC’s as a money making enterprise proves to the accountants

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in the councils that TIC are invaluable to local businesses and visitors and are worth investing in. I have always been interested in how policy makers promote there ideas to the general public, the message regarding the benefits of tourism is often discussed on the evening news. Tourism industry in New Zealand is more open, school children learn about the revenue brought in by visitor, information fliers are posted giving the bare facts I believe this open policy creates more trust in the industry.

Japan The time I spent in Japan was an eye opener, I expected a culture shock but not as much as what I got. Before I left for my fellowship, I took night classes in Japanese; I read countless journal articles and lots of books about Japan. All this preparation did nothing for the level of the shock I received. I truly believe the best experience I had on my fellowship was the feeling of pride I had when I held my first real conversation in Japanese, the language and the culture is extremely different to my own but that is what I went for, to experience culture. Travelling in Japan was probably the most comfortable I have every experienced, getting to the right destination was possibly the hardest. The Japanese written language is made up of three totally different scripts and nothing was ever written in English. The language was possibly the hardest problem I encountered, but was the most rewarding when I actually achieved my goal. There is always talk about integrated public transport being a top priority, well in Japan it is a fact you would never have to wait two hours for your connecting transfer. By leasing with the Japanese transport agency, the government could revolutionise our failing public transport just by copying there example. Interpretation doesn’t exist in Japan, if you’re looking at an amazing building there is nothing that explains what it is about. I never realised how important interpretation actually is until I went some were that didn’t have it. I then began to realise how hard it must be for other people who don’t read English, most interpretation is only in English yet Spanish and Chinese is the most spoken language in the world.

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List of recommendations 1. I believe that to make Wales more visitor friendly, welsh signage should be

written in Welsh with the correct phonetical way of saying it in English. 2. Tourist Information Centres should look at the New Zealand model, and make

them into businesses where they are taking booking and earning commission. 3. Brown tourist signage in New Zealand are of a very high standard, without a

doubt you can follow the signs for the TIC’s, tourist attractions and Camping grounds without getting lost, as all are accurate and well placed.

4. Campsites in New Zealand are of a very high quality. The campsites are seen as a real business, with great infrastructure and facilities instead of our attempts where you get a portaloo in a field.

5. Car parks in New Zealand are designed with camper vans in mind. There are extra large bays to park the larger vans.

6. Integrated public transport, in Japan you have a train station built below a sky train or next to bus stop. Every time a train comes in, five minutes later a connecting bus arrives or the sky train is waiting.

7. Free town maps, it is a simple idea which works brilliantly. When you go into a tourist information centre, they will give you an artist’s impression of the town, which includes all the sites to see. It is an amazing way to promote your town and advertise businesses as they pay to advertise which covers the expenditure.

8. Interpretation in other languages not just English and Welsh. 9. In Wales we have a wealth of myths and legends called the ‘Mabinogon’

which we never utilize, I believe we should copy the example set down by the New Zealand ministry of tourism and offer the myth and offer the science.

10. I believe we should utilize our national game of rugby more. Package holidays to experience the wild rugged landscape, the culture and the Rugby.