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CoOK ISLANDS SuN
A ir N e w Z ea l and C o o k I s l and s T o u ri s m A w ard s
Outstanding Contribution to Tourism Award 2016 This year’s Special Personal Award was presented to Vara Hunter in recognition of her outstanding contribution to tourism in the Cook Islands for over 35 years. n her younger days Ishowcasing as an entertainer Cook
Islands culture in the Pacific region Vara epitomised Cook Islands culture with grace and poise, today she is one of the best known and loved identities in the Cook Islands tourism industry.
Vara Hunter, the Cook Islands icon
In earlier days while living in Auckland with her young family, Vara famously performed and showcased Cook Islands culture working as an entertainer for weddings, balls and functions playing the ukulele and dancing, with a repertoire of NZ Maori, Samoan, Tahitian ad Cook Islands dance items. She danced in New Zealand, Australia and Tahiti, and toured with well known Moari entertainer Sir Howard Morrison. In the early 70s Vara, her husband and their young family moved back to Rarotonga.
In the 80s they established a family business Ariana Bungalows, which Vara managed in her inimitable style, greeting her guests at the airport in her signature pareu wear and ei katu, and known for her ever courteous, gentle, helpful nature. Vara was a familiar sight on Rarotonga’s roads in her Ariana Bungalows van transporting guests to town and wherever they needed to go. On the sale of the bungalows, Vara took on a management role at Club Raro in the early 90s, managing the resort in her friendly style. Her daughters were a familiar sight at the resort island nights performing in their dance troupe.
Following her short Club Raro stint, Vara started up Vara’s Backpackers at her homestead in Muri, initially as a small scale operation renting out rooms in the family home on Muri beach, seeing the expansion of the business as a popular backpackers hostel, with Vara yet again greeting her guests at the airport every flight until her children insisted she slow down and hire someone to make the late night-early morning airport transfers. At other times, Vara could be found tending the gardens at the hostel, always with a friendly word for guests passing through.
“Mama Vara remains the gracious lady many of us know and love”. Her identity and personality are such that she even has a clothing label named after her. T-shirt Factory’s Don Carlaw said of Vara, that every
Farewell
for Vara Hunter
occasion he encountered Vara she was always poised and elegant, positive and gentle and willing to lend a helping hand: “She’s a real identity on the island and someone I respect. I admire her and wanted to honour her with this label,” he said at the time. More recently, Vara has lent her named to the spectacular cultural village, Te Vara Nui, which was established in her honour. Vara’s experience and skills as a dancer were integral to the show’s choreography. She also showed the chefs how to prepare the traditional island dishes that are served as part of the buffet. And, naturally, she could always be found with her gardening gloves on helping to create the beautiful gardens that surround the village. Until last year when Vara moved to Australia (as part of a plan by her children to force her to stop working and relax a little more), she could be found at the Te Vara Nui entrance greeting guests on arrival with her beautiful smile and friendly greeting, and making the rounds of the tables chatting
Some members of the family: L-R Maria Hunter, Vara Hunter, Moana Hunter and Serena Hunter.
to guests and graciously accomodating photo requests. One often repeated story from the early days is that of Vara catching the eye of Marlon Brando while on holiday in Tahiti, and famously rejecting his advances at a local nightspot. Looking back at the photos of this stunning elegant Cook Islands maiden, the story does not surprise. And now, almost into her 80s, Mama Vara remains the gracious graceful lady many of us know and love.
Vara was surprised with the award announcement as she didn’t know she was even nominated; she said she has been overwhelmed with the congratulatory comments from the friends, family and members of the tourism industry. Vara Hunter is a humble and selfless person who has always put her heart into everything she does, with the understanding that her family always come first.
to Air New Zealand’s Cook Islands manager David Bridge
After thirteen years as country manager, David Bridge retires to his homeland. Here is a little about David and his work in the Cooks. Tell us about your career in Air New Zealand and how you came to the Cook Islands. Joined Air New Zealand in 1968 as a commercial trainee in Dunedin, before moving through a number of departments including Reservations, Cargo and the Airport as a trainee and later as a supervisor before being appointed Dunedin airport manager in 1991. As part of this role I often assisted our sales and marketing team hosting clients at events. It was at one of these events - an All Blacks match at Carisbrook - I was asked if I was interested in working in the islands; I later applied for the Cook Islands country manager position in 2003 and here I am! I’ve been very
fortunate having stayed here for thirteen years.
How would you describe tourism here when you took up the position of country manager? When I arrived there was a strong focus on the growing the tourism industry with Air New Zealand playing a big part. Tourism is still hugely important to the Cook Islands country and Air New Zealand proudly continues to play a role.
What has changed in the years you have been in the Cook Islands? From an Air New Zealand perspective we have made a number of changes to our network over the years including adding direct flights from Rarotonga to Sydney,
David Bridge, Air New Zealand’s outgoing country manager
and from Rarotonga to Los Angeles. These services have stimulated tourism to the Cook Islands. At the same time, we have had to make the difficult decisions to suspend loss-making services Rarotonga to Nadi and Rarotonga to Papeete. We have also invested in our services between the Cook Islands and New Zealand – introducing wide body jets almost daily on this route and increasing frequency, which now sits at up to 14 flights per week in the peak season. We’ve also invested in the inflight experience for customers – refurbishing our fleet of Boeing 777-200 aircraft which operate some of our Cook Islands services and introducing our ‘Seats to Suit’ fare structure on narrow body services allowing us to cater to customers at all
David Bridge and some of his staff at the 2016 Tourism Awards
points of the market. Last year we introduced our popular Premium Economy product on wide body services between Rarotonga and New Zealand.
What is Air New Zealand’s commitment to the future of the Cook Islands? The Cook Islands have been an important part of Air New Zealand’s history for more than forty years now, and we enjoy close relationships with many local industry stakeholders. Air New Zealand remains firmly committed to the Cook Islands and I know the team will continue to work closely with the tourism industry here and match capacity with demand.
What will you and your family miss most about
the Cook Islands? The warm tropical climate and beaches, the friendly smiling people - many of whom have become good friends - and the overall relaxed island way of life that exists here. I personally will miss our 55 staff members in Rarotonga; they’re a great bunch of high performing Air New Zealanders, many of whom I employed.
What is your departing wish(es) for the future of tourism in the country? Tourism is going to continue to be a major driver for the Cook Islands economy and I hope to see visitor numbers continue to build steadily over the next few years and the local infrastructure adjust and grow accordingly to cope with increased demand.
Air New Zealand Boeing 777-200
While growing visitor numbers is great, there are a number of other destinations competing for the tourism dollar and the Cook Islands tourism industry is going to need to be even more competitive as well as sustainable in the future.
What will you be doing when you return to New Zealand? I am looking forward to retiring to our house at Mangawhai Heads north of Auckland and getting in some R&R, and taking my body board to the beach. The plan is for us to travel and enjoy life and family. I have a son and three grandchildren in London, and two daughters with two more grandchildren in Auckland, so I’m looking forward to spending more time with them all.