The six-part series Gary Barlow’s Food and Wine Tour: New Zealand is hosted by the UK star and showcases Aotearoa New Zealand's world-class food and wine offering while telling a broader destination story through the people, places and experiences that make New Zealand unique.

The series is expected to reach millions of UK viewers and will strengthen New Zealand’s position as a globally distinctive culinary destination and inspire future travellers.

“It’s important to keep building desire for New Zealand among key markets and the UK is no different,” says Tourism New Zealand Chief Executive René de Monchy.

“Gary Barlow is one of the UK’s most recognisable and enduring entertainers. As the frontman of Take That, he has sold over 45 million records. Beyond music his presence as a TV personality, talent show and documentary host has made him a trusted and familiar figure to audiences across generations.

Few UK figures command the same level of recognition and credibility,”

“Gary’s authenticity and cross-generational appeal make him an ideal ambassador for storytelling which inspires emotion, trust and connection. The focus of the series is on the quality of New Zealand’s food and wine, and complementary travel experiences bringing to life New Zealand’s story for a UK audience looking for inspiration about our spectacular landscapes and scenery, our food and beverage offering, and craving a refreshing and relaxing travel experience,” says de Monchy.

The UK visitor market is New Zealand’s fourth largest, attracting 196k visitors (Source: Statistics NZ Arrivals) worth more than $1b in visitor spend in the year to June 2026 (Source: International Visitor Survey), an 11% increase year-on-year. It’s also important to New Zealand’s overall visitor mix, they travel widely and stay for longer. They have the second longest length of stay of all visitors, behind only Germany.

Tourism New Zealand is supporting the production alongside Great Rail Journeys, Air New Zealand and THL.

A complementary conversion campaign to encourage UK audiences to book a trip to New Zealand will run alongside the broadcast of the series, supporting Tourism New Zealand’s focus on driving visitor arrivals in 2026.