Southern New Zealand plays a major role in a recent Chinese edition of National Geographic Traveller, taking the area's scenery and wildlife to the publication's one million readers.
The feature follows a visit late last year by Chinese wildlife photographer Xi Zhinong, who led a team of National Geographic staff through Dunedin, Southland, the Waitaki district and Stewart Island to report on New Zealand's conservation efforts.
At the time, the Dunedin City Council described the visit as a major coup for the city.
The April edition of the magazine has the report of the visit as its cover story. The publication boasts 500,000 readers and another half a million online followers.
The 16-page feature showcases the wildlife of the lower South Island and includes photographs of the Dunedin and Southland coasts, as well as Stewart Island.
Tourism New Zealand (TNZ) said the feature showed there was interest in areas of New Zealand outside the traditional stops of Queenstown and Auckland.
TNZ Asia general manager David Craig said having New Zealand on the cover of ''such a prestigious and well-read publication'' was important.
''The readers are the perfect target market: high-value free independent travellers, who will get out into the lesser-visited areas like Southland and Dunedin.''
''A lot of work went into organising this and it's great to see such a fantastic finished product.''
China provided 303,984 holidaymakers to New Zealand for the year to March, a rise of 4.5%.
