Japanese for Maori, guides?

Press, 24 October 1980, Page 4

Japanese for Maori, guides?

NZPA Correspondent Tokyo The possibility of Maoris being given language training to act as guides for Japanese tourists has been raised in a' working paper on tourism prepared for a New Zealand-Japan business conference in Tokyo. , Mr Bun-Ichiro Suzuki, an executive of the Japan travel bureau, said in the document that a lack of Japan-ese-speaking guides in New Zealand for tourists was a problem. This was particularly so in Auckland and Christchurch, he said. “It is hoped that some special measures are taken to alleviate the restrictions in granting a work-permit visa to prospective Japanese guides to work in New Zealand. “Or, is it far-fetched to say that the Maoris could learn the Japanese language? There are similarities in pronunciations between Maori and Japanese,” Mr Suzuki said. Japanese tour firms were concerned about a shortage of hotel rooms in Auckland

and Christchurch when needed most,, during the October to March period — “the situation is prohibitive, in December and January.”

Mr Suzuki said difficulties were caused by time changes in the flights of Mount Cook Airlines and by differing periods for which hotels, bus companies and restaurants maintained quoted price levels. New Zealand was fourteenth on a list of countries Japanese tourists most wished to visit. By comparison, Australia was second only to Switzerland. A executive of Japan Airlines said Fiji was getting 50 per cent more Japanese tourists than New Zealand on the airline’s Tokyo-and-Auckland service. But the Japanese market had responded more favourably than expected to the opening of the air link last July. In Tokyo, the Minister of Tourism (Mr Cooper) has said he wants immigration officials to re-examine policies towards admitting Japanese into New Zealand to act as tourist guides. He said he would discuss prospects of a more liberal approach on this matter after he returned from Japan to New Zealand at the weekend.

Mr Cooper said he believed it was necessary for more Japanese-speakers to be employed as guides and receptionists, and that restaurants catering for tourists also should hire more Japan-ese-speakers.