Kohutapu Lodge and Tribal Tours has won the 2019 New Zealand Tourism Industry Awards' Community Engagement Award.
The joint venture, on the outskirts of Murupara in the Bay of Plenty, offers visitors an insight into modern-day Māori culture, whilst bringing the town economic and social benefits.
"We are so proud to have won the Community Engagement Award," said Kohutapu Lodge and Tribal Tours director Nadine ToeToe.
"We started Kohutapu Lodge and Tribal Tours to support our community and provide our manuhiri (guests) with an authentic experience that shares with them our history, but also the realities we face as a people. We wanted to show them the positive footprint visitors could leave behind in communities like ours."
The company is owned and operated by a family of Ngāti Manawa descent. The family shares stories, legends, traditional food, and cultural knowledge with their guests.
