Queenstown

Three world-renowned chefs working with first class New Zealand wine and food at one of the top 20 hideaways on earth, has proved to be an irresistible combination.

With the 2010 FIS Snowboard and Freestyle Junior World Champs over, elite junior winter sports athletes from around the world are packing their bags – but many will leave with high hopes of returning.

Kiwi marathon adventurer Malcolm Law – who last year became the first person in the world to run the equivalent of seven marathons in seven consecutive days – is mounting an even grittier challenge for 2010.

Canada’s snowboarding elite took some time out from the 100% Pure New Zealand Winter Games to relax Queenstown-style – jumping off bridges and careering through canyons.

The change of seasons marks a special time in Arrowtown's calendar - the Arrowtown Autumn Festival commemorating the town’s pioneering history and natural beauty.

Despite global recession and ensuing challenges in 2009, New Zealand has sustained its position as a high profile destination bringing in the tourists and notching up many international awards to prove it.

The quest to find New Zealand’s own ‘Bachelor’ is hotting up with a tourism promotion timed to coincide with the airing of the hit US reality show on NZ television.

Readers of one of the world’s most influential travel magazines have named Blanket Bay lodge, near Queenstown, as the best leisure hotel in Australasia and the South Pacific.

New Zealand has laid down the welcome mat with a new campaign to assure travellers that the country is very much open for business, while bloggers throughout the world are extolling the virtues of the destination.

Major Indian Bollywood producers Dharma Productions will film in Queenstown in late January 2010, putting New Zealand on screen in front of up to 150 million viewers.