A former Miss Italy and the new face of rugby on Sky Italia is
currently on tour in New Zealand, filming a documentary that will
help promote Rugby World Cup 2011 to Italian television
audiences.
Tourism New Zealand is hosting Tania Zamparo, actress and Miss
Italy in 2000, for two days of activities in the Christchurch,
Kaikoura and Nelson/Marlborough regions, as part of a four-day
visit.
Tourism New Zealand General Manager Corporate Communications,
Cas Carter, says the visit is one example of how Tourism New
Zealand is working with international media to convert an interest
in rugby into a visit here for the 2011 event.
"There is a huge amount of interest in European markets like
Italy, France, the UK and Ireland in the 2011 Rugby World Cup. Our
work with media is intended to show the kinds of travel experiences
- outside of rugby - that visitors can enjoy if they come out to
New Zealand in 2011," says Cas Carter.
"Though we are only hosting this crew for a small part of their
trip, it is a great opportunity to show Italian rugby fans a bit
more of New Zealand than just the inside of rugby stadiums and to
profile New Zealand generally in this market."
Tania swam with the dolphins in Akaroa on Wednesday 31 April,
before driving to Kaikoura for the night and spending Thursday
enjoying the Marlborough wine region. She will move on to
Wellington for a day on Friday.
Cas Carter says the resulting documentary (up to a half-hour in
length) will be played on Italy's Sky Sport channels during the
Italian team's tour of South Africa in June, and during coverage of
the Tri-Nations Tournament. Sky has 4.8 million subscribers in
Italy.
Around 8,700 Italians travelled to New Zealand in the
year-ending February 2010. That number was up 7.3 per cent on the
previous year, indicating the potential for growth from this
market.
Tourism New Zealand is also currently hosting Irish rugby
commentator, television and radio presenter George Hook, who is
writing a feature about New Zealand for the Irish Sunday
Independent, Ireland's leading Sunday paper.
A writer for Metro International, the world's largest
newspaper, is also here writing rugby-focussed and general travel
stories that will be syndicated across the network's free commuter
newspapers across 22 countries.