Celebrity chef visits
An audience seven times the size of NZ’s population tuned in to see Lake Taupō on a Chinese travel show.
Taupō ’s Mine Bay Māori carvings have been seen by 33.5 million viewers in a episode of Chinese travel show Chef Nic.
Chinese superstar chef Nicholas Tse visited New Zealand in November to film the eighth episode of China’s most popular food and travel show.
The 50-minute episode featured Tse and popstar Gloria Tang (known as G.E.M) tasting regional delights in the Hawke’s Bay and Taupō .
Featured activities included cycling through vineyards, taking a spin in the Huka Jet, sailing on the Barbary yacht and enjoying hangi at Wairakei Terraces in Taupō .
Kiwi restaurateur Al Brown took the guests to a Hawke’s Bay farmers market and sampled strawberries, figs, cheese and lamb with the guests.
‘‘[New Zealand’s] like a wonderland,’’ Tse said.
‘‘I feel like a kid running into a candy shop.
‘‘The people are so warm and gentle, and they are so proud of being Kiwi,’’ he said.
Tang has 24 million followers on Chinese social media platform Weibo. In an early social media post for the show, Tang spoke about eating kina.
‘‘New Zealand’s sea urchins are really eye-opening,’’ she said.
‘‘I even couldn’t find the right word to describe my feeling. I could only say that they are extremely fresh and creamy.’’
The estimated advertising value of the episode (the amount that would need to be spent on advertising to reach a similar audience) was calculated to be more than NZ$20 million.
Tourism New Zealand’s Greg Wafelbakker said the impact and influence of a show like Chef Nic was significant.
‘‘The episode has reached the equivalent of almost seven times the entire population of New Zealand, showing our secondlargest market a realistic picture of what a New Zealand holiday could look like – and it looks great,’’ Wafelbakker said.
Chinese visitors contribute $1.4 billion to the economy each year, with 314,000 visiting in 2017, Wafelbakker said.