Culinary Capital to Star on MasterChef Australia
Monday 27 June 2011, 4:22PM
By Positively Wellington Tourism
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New Zealand’s culinary capital will be showcased on primetime Australian television on Friday 1 July during a special 90-minute episode of MasterChef Australia.
Positively Wellington Tourism helped host the MasterChef contestants and crew for four days in May as part of the Tourism New Zealand initiative.
The New Zealand MasterClass episode will see Kiwi chef Justin North take viewers through some of the capital’s most popular cafes, restaurants and bars, including introducing the contestants to Al Brown and Martin Bosley. Justin – who served his apprenticeship at the Park Royal in Wellington (now InterContinental Wellington) - is a celebrity chef in Australia and the owner of the renowned Becasse and Etch restaurants in Sydney. He will return to the capital in August to star in Wellington Fisher & Paykel MasterClass as part of New Zealand’s largest culinary festival, Visa Wellington On a Plate.
To coincide with the airing of the New Zealand MasterChef episode, both Tourism New Zealand and Positively Wellington Tourism are running a range of television and digital promotions with extensive social media and PR activity in Australia, says PWT Chief Executive David Perks.
“To leverage the New Zealand MasterChef episode and the ever growing Visa Wellington On a Plate menu, we are sending 50 food and media influencers in Australia ‘Wellington In a Crate' - featuring festival programmes, local wines, Whittaker’s chocolate and recommending they tune in to Channel 10 on Friday.”
Catherine Bates, Tourism New Zealand General Manager Brand and International PR, said having the hit Channel 10 show film an episode in New Zealand would boost New Zealand’s profile as a destination for great food and wine in Australia.
“MasterChef Australia is Australia’s highest rating non-sporting programme of all time, and is regularly the top rating show on the network. The enormous exposure in our most important visitor market offers tremendous opportunity to showcase what New Zealand has to offer in the way of great culinary experiences.”
Australia is Wellington’s largest inbound tourism market. In the year to May 2011, 119,217 visitors arrived into the capital from Australia – an increase of 8.7%.