A Thai television crew is in New Zealand this week, filming for
a romantic-comedy series that will showcase New Zealand's
landscapes to six million Thais.
The Thai soap opera The Golden Orange Flowers is
currently being filmed in New Zealand in partnership with Thai
Airways International and Auckland International Airport. The
series stars popular TV drama series actress and model Araya
Hargate and the Thai-British actor and pop idol Louis Scott.
Featuring New Zealand North Island attractions and focusing on
self-drive and New Zealand contemporary art, culture and lifestyle,
the series will boost awareness of what New Zealand has to offer
Thai visitors.
"This is a landmark project for the Thai market, fully supported
by Thai Airways and Auckland International Airport, with a
strategic view to leverage demand and traffic on the
Bangkok-Auckland-Bangkok route," says Tourism New Zealand Regional
Manager India and South East Asia Kiran Nambiar.
Filming is taking place in Napier, Taupo, Rotorua and Auckland
between 23 - 30 April. The cast and crew are accompanied by five
journalists from Thailand, who will also be visiting Tauranga,
Waitomo and Matamata.
The drama will air on prime time television two to three times a
week on free-to-air Thai TV Channel 3 in August and
September 2010.
There were 19,733 Thai visitors to New Zealand in the year to
March 2010, an increase of 5.9 per cent on the previous year.
Although Thailand is a relatively small market for New Zealand,
the South East Asian markets (including Singapore, India and Malaysia) combined accounted for just over
90,000 visitors to New Zealand in the year-ending March 2010.
Thailand is a valuable source of visitors outside of the peak
tourist season. Most Thai travellers tend to visit during the
school holidays in March through till May, and in October.
Three or four behind-the-scene episodes of the television show
are due to be shown in May on popular television entertainment news
programme Nine Entertain (3 million viewers daily).
Coverage is also expected to appear during May and June in
leading Thai language daily newspaper Thai Rath
(circulation 1 million), English-language business magazine and
website Manager (circulation 200,000) and entertainment
magazine In Magazine.
Read more
about Thailand in our online market guide