An offensive sign depicting a Māori man cooking up a person for dinner has been removed from a popular tourist spot after complaints were made that it played off grotesque racial stereotypes.

The sign at Hells Gate geothermal park, mud bath and spa shows a tubby, tattooed Māori man eating from a cooking pot containing a person tied up in rope with the face cut out for people to stick their heads through.

Popular NZ blogger and former columnist, Moata Tamaira, tweeted a picture of the sign after it popped up in her news feed.

The sign depicting a Māori cooking up a person for dinner has been removed (pictured)

'So apparently if you go to the Hells Gate visitor attraction at Rotorua, there is this f***ing awful thing you can take your photo with,' she wrote with a picture of the sign.

'Am I alone in thinking this is just a grotesque racial stereotype played for laughs and that it's actually horribly offensive?'

'A version of this with a friend's child's wee head popping through it came up in my FB feed and everyone else was all, ''ha ha'' but it made me feel gross.'

Many of Ms Tamaira followers were quick to agree that the sign played on archaic ideas of Māori culture and could be harmful.

'It is wrong on so many levels. I guess it was a poor attempt at humour,' wrote one.

'Seems we still have a lot of growing up to do if anyone thinks this is appropriate,' said another.

Many of Ms Tamaira followers were quick to agree that the sign played on archaic ideas of Māori culture and could be harmful

The sign had been up for 20 years at the spa and operations manager, Paul Rayner, told the New Zealand Herald that they did not want to cause offence so had immediately taken it down.

'We are Māori owned and operated. That is the last thing we want to do ... we don't want to cause offence to anybody,' said Rayner.

The spa has been operating since the 19th century but the local Māori population have been bathing in the geothermal muds and sulphur waters of Tikitere for more than 700 years.