Paper short abstract:

Based on case studies from the US and New Zealand, this paper presents the core components of Indigenous business models in tourism.

Paper long abstract:

Drawing from case studies of indigenous-owned tourism operations in the US and New Zealand, this paper explores emergent cross-cultural business models rooted in non-Western values. Indigenous leaders are challenged with developing the strategies to succeed within the political economy of tourism, a system that is often in conflict with traditional protocols governing cultural resources and social relations. Indigenous values that reflect a commitment to the needs of the community are a core component of the business models of the case studies presented. Profitability may go hand in hand these values, but it does not trump them.

Unlike tourism enterprises operated by non-Natives, indigenous tourism is almost always tied to strategies that employ identity politics in larger arenas of concern for the host community. A system of checks and balances regulates operations to ensure the stewardship of tangible and intangible community property for present and future generations. This process often results in a highly competitive product that reflects the real lives of its workers rather than a simulacrum that blindly accommodates the tourist gaze. As a critical locus where ethics, commerce and representation cross-pollinate, an examination of indigenous tourism models offers great insight into contemporary practices in which economic independence, self-determination, cultural sovereignty and the maintenance of tradition are interwoven.