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QUEENSTOWN TOPS WITH INDIAN BOLLYWOOD MEDIA

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January, 2010

Queenstown is about to hit the headlines in India after a team of India's leading television and print journalists have arrived in the resort for major coverage of this country's biggest ever Bollywood movie.

The lifestyle editor Aneesha Baig and cameraman Sanjay Mandaz from India's top-rated NDTV (New Delhi Television) station, Rahul Nanda, a senior journalist from India's Filmfare Magazine and the assistant editor of The Times of India, Nimisha Tiwari all arrived on the set of the $NZ6.5 million movie, `I Hate Luv Stories' up Coronet Peak late this month.

Tourism New Zealand regional manager India and South East Asia Kiran Nambiar is hosting the media group, all of whom were raving about Queenstown's mind-boggling scenery.

An estimated 150 million viewers are expected to watch the movie during the next 3 years and Queenstown would be the centre piece, unlike previous Bollywood movies where Queenstown scenery is from an unknown location usually in a dream-style sequence, Mr Nambiar said.

It's quite hard for us to get New Zealand media back home.....because this involves big (Indian) movie stars it's huge, it'll have that multiplier effect, Mr Nambiar said.

Ms Tiwari said the leading lady Sonam Kapoor and leading actor Imran Khan were big rising stars in India and there was huge interest in their every move.

Readers of India's major national daily newspaper counted well into the millions and would want to
know what the stars ate, what adventure sports they did and whether they did a bungy jump while in Queenstown, Ms Tiwari said.

She would be writing an indepth feature series, which would also appear in the newspaper's online section.

NDTV reached about 40 million households a week and Ms Baig said it was the chance of a lifetime to visit New Zealand. Her station was expecting to screen four 30-minute segments on filming of the movie in Queenstown.

The journalists were blown away by Queenstown's amazing scenery and activities on their first picture perfect hot summers day in the resort.

There isn't an inch of it that isn't beautiful, the airport, the mountains, even the airport's beautiful - it's absurd how beautiful it is, Ms Baig said.

The media had already taken a skydive over Queenstown, would be doing a bungy jump, riding the Earnslaw, the Shotover Jet and visiting Milford Sound, doing a Nomad Safaris Lord of the Rings tour and enjoying a Maori experience and luge ride at Skyline.

About 24,500 Indians visit New Zealand each year, of which 50 percent were holiday visitors. Mr Nambiar said Indian holidaymakers to New Zealand had risen by 20 percent in the past five months.