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Press release

ORGANIC BOOST TO NEW ZEALAND TOURISM


April 21 2009

A young NZ company has just scored a major tourism opportunity for New Zealand.
Organic Explorer, New Zealand’s first green travel guide has been commissioned by an American TV company to facilitate a seven episode tour of this country’s gourmet
organic delights.

Organic Living TV arrives in New Zealand next week to film episodes for their hit TV
show The Hippy Gourmet. They have already filmed gourmet excursions in over 40
countries and the programmes reach over 34 million homes each week across 162 PBS stations, syndicated commercial stations and through a direct partnership with Google and YouTube.

Besides focusing on local food specialities in spectacular settings, 50 per cent of the
show’s time is spent in highlighting local tourism experiences and businesses in the
surrounding region. “This exciting opportunity is just the shot in the arm sustainable New Zealand tourism needs right now in the American market,” says Organic Explorer director, Leonie Johnsen. “It is important that creative opportunities be taken to showcase New Zealand in one of our biggest and most diverse markets like the United States and this is a fantastically cost-effective way of highlighting the growing number of our organic/sustainable tourism operations to a receptive audience.

“A typical station will air and re-run each episode 6-8 times over a three-year period so there is enormous value in New Zealand sustainable tourism being in the spotlight for such an extended time frame. Once they see for themselves the scale of what is available, I am confident the show’s producers will want to return to film places they miss this time around,” she said.

The film crew will be hosted at eco-lodges from Northland to Canterbury. While the
filming is focused on preparing and presenting gourmet vegan, vegetarian and
sustainable seafood dishes, local cultural tourism experiences, ecotourism excursions and gorgeous visual locations are also included in the mix. In all more than 30 tourism businesses will be showcased.

The film crew arrive in Christchurch on the 26th April, courtesy of Air New Zealand; KEA Campers are providing the ground transportation for the three-week excursion, and the Cook Straight Ferries are sponsoring the northbound crossing from Picton. A truly cooperative venture.

For more information contact:
Tony Ward or Leonie Johnsen
Tel: 07 307 2245 Mob: 027 226 6563


Email : leonie@organicexplorer.com