Coverage ecotourism boost

Extensive overseas media coverage of the Royal Albatross colony, valued at more than $17 million, is expected to help ecotourism recover on the Otago Peninsula.

Royal Albatross Centre marketing manager Sophie Barker said Tourism New Zealand had recently advised that 142 overseas print or electronic stories about the colony had appeared in the past five years.

This publicity was valued at an estimated $17.7 million, Ms Barker said.

Further exposure came last night in Japan with the screening of The Return of New Zealand Sea Lions, a television documentary on Dunedin and peninsula wildlife.

At least a million people were expected to watch the show.

When New Zealand eventually reopened its border, many overseas tourists would be keen to visit Dunedin wildlife, thinking ‘‘I’ve put this off, now I must go and do these things,’’ she said.