Ryon Alloway’s dad wasn’t much of an outdoorsman, so it was his uncles and older cousins who took him out fishing on the lakes around Forest County in Northern Wisconsin. When he found he had a love for it – and was pretty good at it – it was his turn to become the teacher.
“My dad, he loves me a lot,” says Alloway, now 24. “He’d bring me out fishing, and he really wouldn’t know too much, so I started teaching him along the way. And I realized that I kind of had a gift to teach.”
Last winter, he parlayed that gift into a business, Alloway Outfitters, charging as much as $500 a day to take folks fishing on the lakes and rivers around Crandon – waterways he now knows like the back of his hand. So far his customers have been mostly local, though he’s had a couple clients from as far away as Appleton, a two-hour drive south, book multiple-day trips.
Alloways says there are a few fishing guides who come up from Green Bay, but very few local guides – and very few Indigenous.
A member of the Forest County Potawatomi, Alloway says, “Fishing’s kind of been in my blood.” HIs great-grandfather was a fishing guide for Johnny’s Resort, and kept meticulous records.
“He had a binder full of probably 700 pages of fish he caught throughout his lifetime,” Alloway says.
Of course, the business of fish goes back longer than that, too.
“Fishing has always been a part of my people’s culture. We’ve been doing business with fish for a long time,” Alloway says. “A lot of people think business is a new concept for us, but we had trade routes all the way down to Mexico. We use fish for different medicines and ceremonies. It goes back to the first contact we had with Europeans. The Natives taught those guys how to hunt and fish and gather.”
Alloway says he hopes to expand the business to get more clients from across Wisconsin and beyond. He intends to sponsor some drivers at the two Crandon International Off Road Race events this year.
“It feels good to see the plan start to work out. Nowhere near the goal I’ve got set down, but it’s good to see how things are starting to pull together and keep moving forward,” he says. “There’s more room for the fishing industry (around Crandon) because we have a lot of bodies of water and a lot of fun to be had on the lake … The smile that somebody has after they catch a good fish or have a good day on the water—that makes it all worth it for me. I can share my passion with others and teach them skills they can use on their own.”
Alloway Outfitters is just one new business in the burgeoning industry of Native American tourism – an industry with significant economic and cultural implications, advocates say.
“Tourism is big for all the tribal economies,” says Kimberlee McGeshick, executive director of Native American Tourism of Wisconsin (NATOW). “We play a significant role in generating revenues for the tribes.”
One of McGeshick’s goals is to gather more data to quantify just how significant that role is, but nationwide data shows tourism that includes or focuses on Indigenous cultural heritage, Native-owned businesses, or regions with primarily Indigenous populations – colloquially known as “Indian Country” – is an important and growing segment of the tourism industry.
In 2016, nearly two million travelers from outside the United States visited Indian Country, according to the American Indian Alaska Native Tourism Association (AIANTA) – a 180 percent increase since 2007, when AIANTA began doing intentional international outreach. The segment of international travelers who visit Indian Country – cultural heritage travelers – make up an outsized portion of international tourism spending. According to the National Travel and Tourism Office, they stay longer (30 days on average compared to 18 days), visit more states (2.4 on average, compared to 1.5), visit more destinations— (3.6 cities on average, compared to two).
They visit more National Parks, small towns, historical locations, art galleries and museums, fine dining establishments, and cultural, ethnic and heritage sites compared to all overseas visitors.
There’s a ripple effect, too: Lloyd Frieson, the intergovernmental affairs manager for the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin, says the tribe’s hotel fills up months in advance of the annual pow-wow, which then spills over into hotels in nearby communities like Shawano.
NATOW’s primary function is promotional, McGeshick says, which means “making sure that special events or cultural events, or anything that’s happening, is being brought to light.” And not only the events, but the cultural destinations, the shops, the casinos, the outdoor activities like fishing.
That promotion is necessary, McGeshick says, because it’s not easy for travelers to stumble upon rich experiences in Indian Country.
“Not all of the tribes are around urban cities,” she notes. “They’re very rural. My tribe is the Sokaogon Chippewa Community in Mole Lake, Wisconsin, and we are not near any big highways or urban cities.”
“We’re kind of off the grid,” Frieson says. “We’re trying to find ways to bring more visitors to our reservation. It’s a little bit hard.”
That means two things: first, Indigenous nations and business owners in rural Wisconsin need to create events and attractions that will lure travelers; and second, they need to promote those attractions.
The attractions include cultural events such as pow-wows, but also include tribes leveraging their 40-plus years of experience in the casino industry, expanding into live music and other entertainment events. Frieson, for example, says NATOW is working on getting boxing to all the Native communities in Wisconsin.
“And Natives love boxing,” he says. “I mean, pretty much everybody loves a good boxing match … Our casino does really good when boxing is there, serving the drinks the food … after a match or two (spectators) go in and drop $20, $50 in the slots.”
Promoting those events – and the tourist-friendly shops and other businesses – is about more than marketing and advertising. That’s where a business like Good Words Travel comes in.
Apache Danforth has known she’d return to the tourism space ever since she stepped down as executive director in NATOW in 2016 to go out on her own as a PR consultant. In 2022 she launched her own PR agency, Good Words Consulting. And earlier this year, she and NATOW board member Cheyenne Landru, who also serves as director of education for the Sokaogon Chippewa Community, launched Good Words Travel. The new endeavor is a receptive tour operator, meaning they package itineraries for travelers. Good Words then sells those itineraries to other travel agencies, most of them international. With funding from the Native American Loan Fund and Bay Bank, they attended their first major trade show in Los Angeles this spring in partnership with the American Indian Alaska Native Tourism Association.
“I really wanted to make sure that we were going to help the tribal communities, not only economically but to tell their story and to create opportunities for them to bridge social understanding between our communities and other communities,” Danforth said. “We really intended to focus on the international market, and bringing in international visitors into the state.”
Danforth said Wisconsin’s Indigenous communities have all the assets of great tourism destinations, and she packages them into products. Those assets, she said, include things like natural resources and access to outdoor activities; museums, cultural centers and historic sites; culinary experiences; cultural demonstrations like traditional song and dance performances; and small businesses like gift shops, coffee shops, cafes, restaurants and hotels.
“Any kind of attraction is an asset,” Danforth says. “The product comes when you put those pieces together into an itinerary.”
Danforth says the tribes and communities can leverage those assets for revenue, but also for cultural understanding.
“I think just visiting the communities and being immersed in our communities, (travelers are) going to see the history lesson, but they’re going to see how advanced and progressive and vibrant our culture is today,” she says. “Our traditional ways and our language are very much alive … People will learn from being immersed in our communities.”
Danforth intends to implement pre- and post-tour surveys to gage travelers’ understanding of Native communities before and after their experience.
“The cultural heritage tour is going to be very much a history lesson on the things that impacted Native tribes in a boarding school era, assimilation, removal, all of the things,” Danforth says. “Once (travelers have) visited us and been immersed in our communities, our intention is to give them a really good feeling of family, of community, of being welcome. You’re really bridging a connection between our communities and people who are interested in us. And so that’s part of what Good Words’ brand promise is: that you’re going to leave with a really, really good story to tell and good words to share in the story.”
Danforth also says she focuses on sustainability, which aligns with “core Indigenous values, because it puts community at the forefront, and is always thinking of the next generation.” That can mean something as simple as providing travelers with reusable water bottles and encouraging groups to travel by bus rather than a caravan of cars.
Sustainability is key to agritourism, another key segment of the Native American tourism industry. NATOW lists two dozen agricultural and agriculture-adjacent attractions and events, ranging from the 88-year-old Lac du Flambeau Fish Hatchery to the Red Cliff Band’s Mino Bimaadiziiwin Gitigaanin (Good Life Farm) to the Bayfield Apple Festival, held every October since 1962.
Elena Terry, a member of the Ho-Chunk Nation, chef and founder of non-profit organization Wild Bearies, says agriculture, food production and food preparation are a good way to connect travelers with Indigenous values and proven sustainability practices, especially in a way that “isn’t as intimidating.”
“The fact of the matter is we’re at this point here today,” she says. “How can we be a good ancestor in this moment? How can we make a difference for the future? How can we reclaim as much as we can in my generation, so the next has more? How can I open these doors and bring the next generation up to where I’m at so that they can push forward?”
The answers to all those questions can include educating people about food, food production and food sovereignty in a way that’s accessible and enlightening.
“I think it really is drawing people in to help educate and share space based on agricultural techniques,” she says. “Not only traditional agricultural techniques, which is definitely a draw, but how do we pivot to be able to produce what our communities need to consume authentic ingredients on this level.”
She notes that food is often a centerpiece of cultural experiences, and sharing food with visitors can be a powerful way to connect.
“Food has been this silent supporter in spaces where we’re celebrating thing,s where we’re educating,” she says. “It cares for us when we’re grieving, it shows up for us and it’s never really talked about.”
Making a vacation out of someone else’s culture, of course, requires some degree of sensitivity – but Wisconsin’s Indigenous people are, for the most part, open to those willing to learn.
“The best thing in my eyes, when visiting a new, unknown place, is to ask questions before doing anything,” McGeeshick says. “Indigenous people are some of the most honest, outgoing, and caring individuals, and we would rather have the questions asked instead of just assumptions.”
“I think it’s like approaching any group that you’re not familiar with,” Terry says. “You want to approach it open-mindedly and kindly with a sense of understanding.”
