TODAY Show co-host Karl Stefanovic has called Bendigo the "royalty" of country Victoria ahead of the show's visit to the regional city next week.
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The popular Channel Nine breakfast show is hitting the road from Monday for a week-long tour through Australia as part of an advertising partnership with Tourism Australia.
It is due to visit Bendigo on Tuesday, where it will host its morning program at the Conservatory Gardens on Bull Street.
Australian country singer Troy Cassar Daly will be performing at the show.
Mr Stefanovic said he was really looking forward to the Bendigo leg of the tour as one of the places in regional Victoria the Today crew had wanted to visit.
It's going to be terrific, can't wait to get down there.
- Karl Stefanovic
"It's going to be terrific, can't wait to get down there," he said.
"It’s like the royalty of country Victoria."
He said he believed Bendigo was one of the show's stronger regional markets, and the visit represented a "bit of a reward for the loyalty of viewers".
"If everyone can come along, say G'day to us, we don't get the opportunity to come out and meet with the public that often outside Sydney," he said.
"We want people to come and have a look and see how it is all done, get themselves on TV, we want it to be fun."
He said the Today Show crew would arrive in Bendigo on Monday night and were inviting locals to tweet him and Richard Wilkins about their favourite Bendigo bar.
"Richard Wilkins is in search for Bendigo’s best bar, people can tweet us and... we will meet them at Bendigo's best bar at 6pm," he said.
City of Greater Bendigo major events manager Terry Karamaloudis said the city's tourism team had been instrumental in pushing the case for the show here. Mr Karamaloudis said having a national television network broadcast their show here was terrific for Bendigo.
"That program is broadcast right around Australia and again Bendigo will be right in the spotlight, I think the show runs for three-and-a-half hours, it's beautifully positioned in the conservatory gardens so there will be a backdrop of Rosalind Park and our beautiful law courts' building, and again, all things Bendigo will be on display to Australia," he said.
He joked there would be no repeats of an unfortunate gaffe a few years back during a broadcast of the show's weather segment from Lake Weeroona, where Bendigo was incorrectly referred to as Ballarat.
"I think they've been briefed very comprehensively this time, but if there's any mention of our competitors in this particular broadcast we might have to put salt in their coffee instead of sugar," he said.