Southland is basking in the spotlight

Southland is fast becoming a media star!

In June, four Tourism New Zealand representatives were in the region for a familiarisation of Southland. Participants included the manager of the Tourism New Zealand International Media Programme (IMP), media advisors for Europe and Japan and the Cruise Development Manager.

The International Media Programme is run by Tourism New Zealand, supporting and encouraging media interest in New Zealand. Public Relations managers operate within various key markets offshore and work with the IMP team in Auckland to organise media visits to New Zealand.

The IMP team’s familiarisation included Invercargill, Stewart Island, Bluff, Gore and Riverton where the participants were able to experience a range of activities including kiwi spotting, visiting Ulva Island and various art galleries, museums and heritage centres around the region. The familiarisation provided an excellent opportunity to showcase Southland and for tourism operators to meet with the IMP team and gain a better understanding of their roles.

Southland has gained significant coverage from the International Media Programme in a range of publications. In the past year, Venture Southland has hosted seven influential journalists through the programme. This included media from magazines, newspapers and television. In January, Southland was fortunate to host renowned British comedian Stephen Fry and nature conservationist Mark Carwadine, with the BBC's ‘Last Chance to See’ series. The visit focused on the Kakapo on Codfish Island and the crew visited the Island and the breeding facilities for their story. One of only three New Zealand stories for the series, this coverage will provide excellent exposure for Southland and the plight of the Kakapo.

Late last year, Venture Southland also hosted a Swiss magazine, 20 Minuten, where the journalist visited Stewart Island for a kiwi spotting and Ulva Island experience. Journalists from Op Pad magazine from the Netherlands walked the Tuatapere Hump Ridge Track in November last year and Kathy Marks from The Independent in the UK visited Stewart Island to visit Ulva Island in December.

In addition to the BBC film crew, Southland had visits from Chinese and Australian crews also. The Walker Travel Channel in China has a viewership of over 60 million and their story focused on Ulva Island and kiwi spotting on Stewart Island. The Guru’s Explore is a well known Australian Travel Show which airs on Channel Nine. This will feature in a one hour television programme, in collaboration with Dunedin, which will screen in Australia in October 2009.

Familiarisations are run by Venture Southland for media to give journalists a first-hand experience of what Southland has to offer.  Traditional methods of journalism such as print media still show strong interest in Southland but there is also a strong and growing presence of online media and social networking writing about our region.