AUCKLAND: As the Rugby World Cup draws to an end this weekend, tourists are flooding into tattoo parlors to get a permanent reminder of New Zealand. French tourist, Pierre Crequis, 31, got a Maori moko design and his brother Thomas, 28, a Tahitian style design at Otautahi Tattoo on Karangahape Rd in Auckland. The brothers had been planning their one-month trip for three years and Pierre decided one-year ago that he wanted a Maori style tattoo. “It could be a souvenir from this trip,” he said. Crequis had a moko design by moko specialist Michael Sokolich. Moko is the name given by Maori, natives of New Zealand, to the skin art form they use as a part of their culture. Traditionally the moko is symbolic of the wearer's genealogy, tribal story and thus is a statement of his/her Maori identity “It's a personal tattoo,” Pierre said. Since the start of the Rugby World cup, Otautahi Tattoo studio manager Brad Cone said the studio has been so popular with tourists. “It's been madness.” He said they were tattooing at least five tourists a day, mostly with moko designs. Cone said about half of the tourists were French and others from England, Argentina, Austria, Sweden and Australia. BM
