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The biggest trend in Indigenous tourism isn’t just increased visitor interest—it’s how the tourism experience itself has changed.
Traditionally, Indigenous tourism focused on the past—presenting living cultures as museum artifacts or a colorful bit of pageantry. But as communities have begun opening up their land and culture to visitors on their terms, the resulting tourism offers a powerful emotional connection and opportunity for education that travelers crave.
More than a canoe ride, or a hike to find medicine plants or see bears; modern Indigenous tourism shows people the land through a cultural lens, with guides who don’t shy away from teaching about the harsher truths of racism and colonization.
INSIDER TIPIndigenous tourism has a history of being exploitive. To avoid experiences where people in traditional dress are essentially put on display for photo-ops, look for Indigenous-led or partnered businesses that offer visitors cultural insight and personal connection while ensuring Indigenous cultures are treated with respect.
Read on for 12 remarkable Indigenous-led tourism experiences from around the world.
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Meet the Reindeer Herding Sámi of Lapland
Occupying a territory known as Sápmi that stretches across northern Scandinavia and Russia’s Kola Peninsula, the Sámi began herding domesticated reindeer around the 17th century. With a rich culture that includes art, music, and cuisine that are focused around the reindeer, the Sámi endured generations of racism and cultural repression. Tourism partners like Women Adventure Travel in Swedish Lapland offer respectful opportunities to meet elders, visit a reindeer farm, and try Sámi cuisine.
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Discover Náhuatl Hospitality in Cuetzalan del Progreso, Mexico
Known historically as Aztec, the Náhua people in this Puebla mountain town have a long and rich legacy and a living and thriving culture. Visitors can stay in Hotel Taselotzin, a cozy hotel run by an Indigenous owned women’s cooperative. The women’s cooperative also serves regional pre-Hispanic dishes in the restaurant; arranges tours to a traditional textile market; and runs hiking excursions to local waterfalls and Yohualichan, an Aztec archaeological site that dates to Classic period (200-900 AD).
INSIDER TIPMany countries have Indigenous tourism organizations which can help direct visitors to Indigenous-led experiences. In Mexico there’s La Red Indígena de Turismo de México Asociación Civil (RITA).
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Canoe Through Guna Yala With the Guna People in Panama
Scattered along the Caribbean coast of Panama, the 365+ islands of the Comarca de Guna Yala are home to the Indigenous Guna; an autonomous people who have held tight to a traditional way of life that’s reliant on nature for their basic needs. While it can take a full day to travel from one island group to another by cayuca, paddling the traditional dugout canoes shorter distances is a fantastic way get into the rhythm of the islands. While many Guna speak some Spanish or English, use this opportunity to establish a connection by trying a basic greeting like “na” (hello), or “bede nued guddi” (how are you).
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Explore the Hopi Arts Trail in Arizona
The Hopi Tribe is a sovereign nation of about 20,000 people who live on a 2,439 square mile reservation located in northeastern Arizona. Visitors are invited to gain insight into the traditional Hopi way of life while driving across the Hopi reservation using the Arts Trail Map. Visit the galleries and artists and discover the main art forms that include Kachina dolls, baskets, silver work, and pottery.
INSIDER TIPWhile tourists are often welcome to visit Indigenous communities like the Hopi villages independently, the best way to tour is often with a cultural guide who can explain etiquette and protocol.
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See the Northern Lights, Polar Bears, Muskox and Caribou With the Inuit in Nunavik, Quebec
Inuit are an Indigenous people living in the Arctic regions of Canada, Alaska, and Greenland who have struggled to have their rights recognized since colonization. Tourism offers visitors the opportunity to experience the northern landscape from an Inuit perspective. Local guides will introduce the Arctic’s big three: polar bear, musk-ox, and caribou, while pointing out beluga whales, seals, and icebergs. Visitors to Nunavik will also have the opportunity to hear (and try) traditional throat singing, see the Northern Lights and learn to use the traditional Inuit lamp called a qulliq—a symbol of resistance and resilience among the Inuit people.
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Spot Spirit Bears in the Great Bear Rainforest With First Nations in British Columbia
The Great Bear Rainforest (GBR) is a temperate rainforest spanning British Columbia’s north and central coast that’s about the size of Ireland. The recent archaeological discovery of a 14,000-year-old village in the GBR, supports the Indigenous oral history of the 26 First Nations who have called this land home since “time immemorial.” Visitors can explore the land and waterways with an Indigenous guide and may spot sea wolves, grizzly bears, deer, cougars, whales, sea lions, and the GBR’s most celebrated resident, the white Kermode bear, or spirit bear.
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Dine Under the Stars at Wanuskewin Heritage Park, Saskatchewan
Occupied for 6,000 years, the Opimihaw Creek valley has been central to the culture of every nomadic group living in the Great Plains. Archeological sites showing tipi rings, stones cairns, pottery fragments, and projectile points uncover the history, while workshops and events allow visitors to engage with the living cultures of Treaty Six territory. Summer moon dinners (Han Wi) include a sunset dinner of bison and bannock while a Star Story Teller tells ancient myths about the vast prairie sky.
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Track Lions at Bushman Plains Camp, Botswanna
Bushmen, or San people, are members of Indigenous hunter-gatherer groups in Southern Africa and are considered the world’s oldest culture, with artifacts that date back 70,000 years being found. In Botswanna, traditional San territory has been encroached on by colonizers disrupting their semi-nomadic culture. At Bushman Planes Camp, visitors have the chance to do more than track animals on a game drive. There’s the opportunity to learn about medicinal plants on bush walks, hear ancient songs and learn about the Bushman’s strong connection to the landscape.
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Tour Ancient Aboriginal Rock Art in Arnhem Land, Australia
Home to some of the oldest cave art in the world, Arnhem Land is a wilderness area in Australia’s Northern Territory and is home to the Yolngu people. Free permits are required to visit the region, but the best way to see the ancient art up close is to take a tour with Aboriginal traditional owners. Images on the vast rock canvases range from Dreamtime creation stories to extinct animals like the Tasmanian tiger.
INSIDER TIPDon’t miss the contemporary art centers and galleries. The Yolngu people are internationally renowned for intricately detailed bark paintings and the local version of didgeridoo (called yidaki).
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Fossick for Bush Tucker With a Kuku Yalanji Guide in Australia
The Kuku Yalanji people have been living in the rainforests of Far North Queensland for over 50,000 years. With a belief system that revolves around nature, guided walking trips out of the Mossman Gorge Centre offer visitors the chance to learn about the environment and try traditional foods while hearing stories about the region.
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Make Your Own Pounamu Pendant on the West Coast, New Zealand
In New Zealand, pounamu is the traditional Māori name for greenstone or jade, and the small West Coast town of Hokitika is where much of it has been mined. Central to the Māori culture, visitors in the area can learn how to identify pounamu, discover its significance and can make the piece they find into a necklace in its raw form or try their hand at carving the sacred stone with expert guidance.
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Sail or Paddle a Traditional Waka Canoe With a Māori Guide in New Zealand
The Māori people voyaged to New Zealand from eastern Polynesia around 1320 aboard large sailing wakas. Visitors can learn about the Māori culture while trying their hand at sailing or paddling replicas of the traditional Polynesian sailing wakas in several different locations including Bay of Islands with the Ngapuhi nation and in Wellington with the Te Atiawa/Taranaki Whanui.