New Zealand will celebrate its role as host of RWC 2011 by staging the biggest nationwide festival the country has ever seen...

The REAL New Zealand Festival will run from September 9 to October 23, and will complement the match and team hosting schedule for RWC 2011. But it will go well beyond the 23 centres hosting teams and matches, and will include every part of the country.

Festival Director, Briony Ellis, says the Festival will include events and attractions all over the country which showcase New Zealand’s arts, food and wine, heritage, culture, entertainment, industries and business, experiences and lifestyle – including our abiding passion for Rugby.

“We’ve called it ‘REAL’ because the programme for the festival celebrates the aspects of living in New Zealand that Kiwis are most proud of – the experiences that present the real New Zealand, and events that showcase our people, landscapes, languages, culture and stories”.

“There’ll be plenty of time between matches so we want to encourage people to take the long way around from one match to the next and really see the country and meet the people.”

Since its launch in September, the REAL New Zealand Festival has gone from strength to strength. Today there are over 300 events and experiences on the website (www.realnzfestival.com), and by Tournament time around a thousand events will be available for visitors, and New Zealanders to sample across the country.

An injection of NZD$9.48 million of Lottery Grants Board funding has helped to provide more festival experiences in more regions, and announcements of those new events will be made in the New Year.

Last week, Tournament Organisers revealed some valuable research into our international visitors. An expected 85,000 visitors will stay, on average, for 23 days, giving them plenty of time to see and experience New Zealand on their way from match to match.

“The Festival will give those international visitors hundreds of reasons to take the long way round as they travel around the country," said Briony Ellis. They’ll be able to experience the real New Zealand, by getting into the heart of the country and experiencing the Festival wherever it takes them.

“It also means that New Zealanders everywhere can get involved in RWC 2011 and show our visitors why we love to live, work and play here.”

It has been a huge year for festival organisers, and there’s no sign of slowing in 2011. The festival programme is continually changing and updating, and can be found at rugbyworldcuplive2011.blogspot.com