Another way for the tourism
Far from the formatted hotel chains and downplayed
service deliveries around the world; far from the catchy slogans praising these
male appetites for exotic trivial fantasies...
There are vacation homes which know to offer
intelligently, in a mix between heart and conscience, non-warped image of
Polynesia.
Among tourism professionals,
those who are intervening on the ground even and provide 24 hours / 24 a friendly
hospitality, there are dynamic figures which can both create the guest
expectations and enhance the potential of the generous inhabitants of Raiatea.
The tourism, it's now,
today. Patricia Russmann-Maurin, Tahitian, a Hawaiki Nui Hotel manager, gives
you her perspective.
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| Inlet between coral reef and motu |
For one, I checked it, several times during my stays in Raiatea and it's
objectively that I give you some thoughts about Patricia's views and pictures
on this human dimension accommodation unit.
A changing environment
Advocating a mixed tourism, not
to say "inseparable", i.e., both representative of the soul of a
people and in unison with the unprejudiced curiosity of the travelers...
Maintaining the sense of sharing... including natives with international guests
in the same resorts, this is taking into account the needs and aspirations of
the island territory of Oceania. Because, let's not forget, the island of
Raiatea is the second economic center
of French Polynesia.
This atoll's core are
channeling, with "structured" agricultural activities and its
expanding industrial production, the
populations of the Leeward Islands, as also
those from nearby archipelagos. It owes that to its hospital unit, its
administrative capital, its schools and high schools, its unique floral species
(the apetahi tiare), its fishing
stock, its lagoon market -including the vanilla and mother-of-pearl of Taha'a-
and its aboriginal sites.
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| Hotel close to the reef |
How to adapt tourism to make
it an integral part of other areas of activity? How to meet the diverse
interests that are employment, medical travel and tourism with a cultural
vocation? How to spark tourist's interest in local affairs, associate it with
real issues, those that are not distorted by consumerism?
The quest for this balance
seems to have animated in different forms, the adventure of the Hawaiki Nui,
since its inception…
Once Upon a time
Once Upon a Time ... an
island, the island of Raiatea. It would be named in mā'ohi language Hawaiki
Nui or Havai'i Nui, meaning
"island where we come" or
"The great paradise of souls" according to
other sources. Long ago, it was the
island of origins.
It was... long, long after
... in the Tepua Bay, inside the lagoon, opened by the inlet of Teavipiti,
opposite the motu of Taoru, the first
site of hotel bungalows on the water. Designed by Tahitian architect Gerald
Garnier, it emanates from a trio of Californians, the "Bali Hai
Boys", i.e. Hugh Kelley, Jay Carlisle and Muck McCallum. Living in the
Polynesian Society Islands, since the early sixties, they "are the real
creators of the tourism of the islands", from Moorea (1961) at first, to Huahine (1973) at last.
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| The Bali Hai Boys |
In Raiatea (1966), they
"created a hotel that soon became the social center of the island with its
nightly festive getaways, its rounds of the island by typical trucks and boat, named " Liki
Tiki "(phonetically "leaky Tiki"), a big drunken welcome.",
as the "philosophy" of the Club Bali Hai notifies us. On the menu, island bath: food, dance and music with the
singer and musician paumotu, former
oyster fisherman, Vilivala…
This was the time when the
charter flights of the world poured their share of curious. Since, and even
today, the taxes, levied by the Polynesian fenua,
are straining the airlines and tour operators; farewell cheap cultural tourism
and hello scarcity of travelers!
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| The first over lagoon Bungalows in the world |
However, the Bali Hai
Raiatea damaged by fire, sold, became Hawaiki Nui Hotel, in the second half of
the eighties. The legacy of "the
respectable Polynesia, the spirit of the festive golden age and friendly
atmosphere, is transmitted", says Patricia RM. The legacy of family
tradition vigils accompanied by singing and the multicultural fabric of this
country are going on...
In any warmth!
One of the peculiarities of
the Hawiki Nui, given the date of its foundation, because it is among the
oldest Polynesian hotels, is this refinement blended perfectly with rustic
charm. Picturesque pairing of incomparable freshness!
Also remains the
indisputable stamp of the lagoon bungalows, designed on the model of the fare on stilts, conform to the ancestral
coastline Polynesian habitat. A lightweight pioneer in the history of world
tourism, endlessly imitated since which ended up "consolidate" with
its coral base. It still houses the same initial aquatic fauna and flora
without degradation. "The awnings fitted with red pareu are replaced by bay windows; the floor with Plexiglas’s sheet
lets see many species, spawning above the reef, this fish building," says
Patricia.
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| A watercolor for immortality... |
"If the city has skin-whitened, if the Polynesians used to dress like
popaa, Raiatea demonstrated the mentality of a small tropical sub-prefecture.
The Hawaiki Nui, here is the Islands hotel, the station hotel. Uturoa, by its administrative
function, mix locals and tourists.” The originality is there! "The access is not restricted"… unlike
luxury hotels, fearing promiscuity, and unlikely hurt feelings or community
tensions.
Zest for life?
The Hawaiki Nui is the
typical hotel. "The framework we
offer, the size of our hotel unit allows for ethnicities to mix. It supports,
manages the diversity of clientele. It unites people around the joy of life."
Why should we iron out the communicative mood? "The ukulele or guitar" causes only a contamination... but
safely!
Glad there are places where
the effusion is accepted! This opportunity does come only because the
management is autochthonous? It is true that "the design of the service should benefit to be revised in large Polynesian
hotels. The Staff can’t be treated as an abstract entity or anonymous. In their
training, the managers should go through an airlock: to understand... that they
have to do with "real people" who carry with them their own way,
their own way of life."
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| Floral grace Temperaments |
It’s a principle that
tempers the Polynesian relation to employment here: “people forget they work, they are there to please. They do not work by
obligation, but because they love you. This is the base." The duty
replaced by the feeling, it's a whole world!
"To love is respect. The process is reciprocal. To love is to place a
value on someone: first of all recognize that we are dealing with living human
beings, rough, with their problems, and that our task is to personify.
"The work is a house where the problems are forgotten"
Polynesian-style service!
It's just a bit more
complex, but equally effective. It's give employees "the free to manage their time; it's not the same logic; my Cartesian side
is worrying; my Polynesian side repeats
me to have patience. Everything is going well. "
"In four years, I have not suffered a setback. The hotel is stocked by
farmers and local fishermen. A mama every morning brings a basket of passion
fruit. Juices are pressed on demand. We serve Polynesian way, we eat Polynesian
way."
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| Side of the bungalows |
The animation uses daily
local artists and adds other sources, for the weekends, working with artistic
or near and far cultural associations. Inspirations and influences crossbreed
together. The customer is pampered, coming to celebrate a family event.
Happiness is contagious.
I saw "a happy staff!"
An interactive tourism
The democratization
of tourism is she still tainted with derogatory overtones and calamitous?
Does it continue to shade off the monopolies of global tourism, with which some
representative of public bodies may speculate? Still, that "cultural
tourism" has to face some difficulties to safeguard its integrity.
Atmosphere in fare
under niau roof
Let’s put the Hawaiki Nui in
context: "Raiatea is an island of
retirees; the land of return of Polynesians after long stretches in Tahiti for
dietary needs; of retired French, too; of officials. The youth leave, to open
up their minds elsewhere ". Tourism doesn't therefore target young
people.
"The bay of Uturoa attracts boaters, lovers of wrecks and history,
ecologists: the site is protected. The island is large, easy-going, well served
(3-5 flights per day), provided with the necessary; everything's at hand. The motu
are public and with full amenities. "
Raiatea does not revels in
the drowsiness of its immemorial heritage and its underwater remains ...
Raiatea is a country being reborn: on
the trail of his ancestors officiating on marae,
in the wake of the three-masts Norby, sunk 25 meters depth and visited by the
Sub Hemisphere diving Club, off the
Hawaiki Nui; with the tempo of its
venerable musicians or its new bands as Manino, and its local dance groups; on
the sea-foam of its annual dugout race, the Hawaiki Nui Va'a ...
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| Diving for history and fun! |
As for tourists: "We are willing to love them, provided they
are likeable! Unpleasant, with displaced jokes, they often serve us the Western
myth of the vahine; it's rather grisly! This image is totally negative for
tourism, especially for young couples on their honeymoon! It's not because they have spent a fortune,
that you owe them. Generally, they aren't disappointed, quite happy. "
The real tourism is this
interactive brewing.
A Future for the Hawaiki Nui?
Although the
"sharks" of the tourism are globalizing their range of leisure and
residence in sets more and more expensive and extravagant in Polynesia, the
recipe -in every sense of the term is not profitable! Worse, the customers turn
away. Quibbling about budget items, they have been faced with a strike,
at Tahiti as at Bora Bora. The great chains of hotels continue to close some
sites.
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| Welcome in island! |
The Hawaiki Nui seems rather
to maintain a dynamic and constant attendance, despite the financial woes
affecting, for other reasons, its current owner.
Is the Hawaiki Nui
threatened really? Those are rumors. But it would be damaging to a hotel so
well included in the heart of the city, in the life of the inhabitants of
Raiatea, that the threat is confirmed.
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| The elegant barefoot lady... |
Still, the elegant lady, in
many pareos of every color of the
time... the soul of Hawaiki Nui, relentlessly pursues her role of vestal.
She keeps the flame of
genuine hospitality, kindness, taste, ardor, openness, of joy and happiness. A
true celebration of the idyllic holiday or the paradise on earth, if you prefer...
A beautiful way to display
her polynésianité...
An article
of Monak
Copyright Monak. Ask
for the author’s agreement before any reproduction of the text or the images on
Internet or traditional press.
