A profile of tourism in the Lake Waikaremoana region: independent visitation in rural New Zealand

Abstract

This report provides the results of a survey of 191 visitors to Lake Waikaremoana, a remote area in Te Urewera National Park. Lake Waikaremoana has few established tourism services but significant tourist flows. Visitation is dominated by domestic tourists and the surrounding population is predominantly of Maori ethnicity. Lake Waikaremoana thus provided a case study that might be used to enhance understandings of the wider demand for tourism in isolated rural areas and to look at opportunities for the development of tourism and Maori tourism experiences in these areas.