Ngāti Porou elder Hinetu Dell is fronting the latest NZ Tourism campaign '100% Pure Welcome' - with one special feature from a young cowboy in Tokomaru Bay that is going viral.
Every day for the next year a short video will go live of a New Zealander wishing the world a good morning from their favourite place in New Zealand.
The first promotional video of the new series by Tourism NZ was captured on Mt Hikurangi, the ancestral mountain of the Ngāti Porou people and the first place in the world to see the new dawn each day.
“I made time for the inclusion of Māori language within their Pākehā dialogue, that's the marvellous thing, it wasn't until afterwards that they spoke to me and I gave them the Māori sentences with the Pākehā translations,” says Dell.
Tourism NZ worked with Ngāti Porou and Tourism Eastland to organise filming for the campaign video on Mt Hikurangi, which has already been viewed over 250,000 times on YouTube.
Dell says, “I was fortunate because I'm new to that world but my spirit remained engaged with te ao Māori and in that short amount of time was able to include Māori language in their promotional content.”
Tourism NZ CE Stephen England-Hall is pleased with the campaign's regional focus.
"Tourism New Zealand's main goal is to enrich New Zealand and the lives of New Zealanders through our work. One way we do this is by encouraging international visitors to visit more regions so the benefits of international tourism are spread right across the country."
Good Morning World Day 2 of 365Day 2 of 365: Today’s Good Morning World comes from Terau and his cheeky little friend in Tokomaru Bay. #GoodMorningWorldNZ
Posted by 100% Pure New Zealand on Thursday, June 13, 2019
Dell says it's a positive demonstration for younger multi-media enthusiasts.
“Some youngsters may see it and want to do something like that, they can ask me because I'm at home so it's not as if you have to go to Hollywood, the capacity is here already and they can do it.”
New Zealanders are also being invited to be a part of the campaign by creating their own 'good morning world' videos and sharing them on social media using the hashtag #goodmorningworldnz.
There is no commitment or agreement between Tourism NZ and Ngāti Porou Tourism to promote specific tourism products as a result of this campaign.
Dell says, “Be strong in maintaining the unique ways of our ancestors, therein lies our livelihood."
Perhaps in the future, we may see a tourism campaign that is 100% te reo Māori?