Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 32, Number 4, 1 ʻApelila 2015 — A strong voice in support of Native Hawaiian entrepreneurs [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

A strong voice in support of Native Hawaiian entrepreneurs

/A no'ai kakou ... /\ Thanks to my close working relaĒ \ tionship with the # \ Amei'iean Indian Alaska Native Tourism Association (AIANTA), OHA was able to partner with them for a second year in the ITB Berlin Travel Trade Show from March 2-9, 2015. Native Hawaiian entrepreneurs were onee again represented in this prestigious event.

The ITB Berlin Travel Trade Show provides a tremendous opportunity for our Native Hawaiian benehciaries to develop their self-sufhciency by giving them greater control over the marketing of their history and culture internationally and by bringing about a stronger, more authentic Native Hawaiian identity in the minds of travelers around the world. I have served on the AIANTA board of directors for over two years. AIANTA is a 501 (c)(3) nonproht association formed in 1999 to help federally recognized tribes market their unique stories to visitors and to facilitate the ease with whieh travelers ean explore Indian Country. The association is made up of member tribes from the following regions: Eastern, Plains, Midwest, Southwest and Alaska. The Paeihe region is now being represented thanks to my participation. Eaeh March, AIANTA sponsors an expansive Native American Indian booth located within the United States Pavilion at ITB Berlin, the world's leading travel trade show with more than 170,000 visitors, including 1 10,000 trade visitors and over 10,086 exhibitors from 180 eountries. The Pavilion attracts large crowds of participants and hundreds of internalional travel agents. The success of our experience in 2014 encouraged another Hawaiian organiza-

tion to participate with us in this year's ITB Berlin Travel Trade Show. Pohai Ryan, Executive Director of the Native Hawaiian Hospitality Association (NAHHA), accompanied us to ITB Berlin this year. NAHHA had never participated before but after recently joining AIANTA, they have learned the value of ni'omoliii" our indige-

nous cultures collectively to the European market. It is NAHHA's goal to promote guided Huaka'i conducted by Native Hawaiian entrepreneurs, to promote the programs of NAHHA and advocate for a greater Hawaiian eultural presence in our state's tourism industry. As part of their participation with AIANTA, NAHHA has worked to arrange private meetings with wholesalers who have been carefully vetted to meet with them, matching the prohle they have specihed. Also as a result of my involvement last year, hve Native Hawaiian entrepreneurs from Kauai decided to participate in this year's ITB Travel Trade Show. Hopefully, next year we will be able to have even more Hawaiian businesses participating. I look forward to working with NAHHA on other projects to ensure that only authentic and quality representations of Hawaiian culture are portrayed in the hospitality industry. We will also look for more opportunities to provide a strong voice in support of Native Hawaiian entrepreneurs. Aloha Ke Akua. ■ Interested inHawaiian issuesand OHA ? Please visit my website at www.rowena akana.org for more information or email me at rowenaa@oha.org.

Rūwena Akana TrustEE, At-largE