Australia’s top-rated, weekday “Sunrise” TV show will be greeting viewers live from Waikiki.

The program airs through Thursday, which is Friday, Australia time, as a wrap-up to the broadcast week.

The audience at Hilton Hawaiian Village’s Kahanamoku Lagoon and viewers some 5,600 miles away will meet local personalities who will introduce them to Hawaiian culture, cuisine and fashions.

Some of the fun planned involves hit-making recording artists including Guy Sebastian, Justice Crew, G.R.L., Tim Omaji and Carly Rae Jepsen, according to the “Sunrise” website.

Hosts and crew arrived Thursday to set up around the lagoon for the broadcasts, which began Sunday (Monday in Australia).

The show, which can be compared to the “Today Show” or “Good Morning America” in the U.S., is seen by an estimated 2.9 million viewers every week. Organizers hope the heavily promoted Hawaii broadcasts beget increased viewership at home, as well as increased Hawaii visits from the Australian market. “Sunrise” airs from 6 to 9 a.m. in Australia, but “because they’re in Hawaii, they’ll be (broadcasting) from 9 a.m. to noon,” said Cynthia Rankin, Hawaii regional director for Hilton corporate communications.

Not only did the show entice some 130 Australian viewers to come to Hawaii to be in the audience and enjoy the islands, another 20 came along as part of a wedding party for a couple who won a contest staged by the show. The couple will be married live on the air Thursday.

The travel packages to Hawaii, which cost $1,900 in Australian dollars, sold out the first day they were promoted on the show.

Naturally, through partnerships with the hotel, airlines and Hawaii Tourism Oceania, travel to the islands will be promoted throughout the broadcasts, both directly through commercial-type messages and through video of audience members’ visits to Oahu attractions, said Ashlee Galea, country manager for Hawaii Tourism Oceania. The tourism promotion contractor for the Hawaii Tourism Authority has been the main player in getting “Sunrise” from its continent-size island home to our island archipelago.

Additionally, the show’s weather anchor will report live from different neighbor islands, showcasing different aspects of each through the week, Galea said.

It is the third time “Sunrise” has broadcast from Hawaii. The last time was in 2010.

“Not only does this offer phenomenal exposure for the destination to a broad television audience of 2.9-plus million across the week, it also presents the opportunity for those watching to take advantage of the special Hawaii travel offers being promoted each day,” Galea said. The value of the “Sunrise” airtime over five days is estimated at $22 million Australian dollars, excluding commercial time. In U.S. dollars that’s about $13,879 for 30 seconds, give or take, depending on the daily currency exchange rate.

“This is the biggest promotional opportunity of the year for Hawaii Tourism Oceania to maximize,” Galea said.

The Hawaii Tourism Authority increased its goal for Oceania, which includes Australia, to 401,300 arrivals this year, which could mean more than $921 million in visitor spending. January saw a 10.2 percent increase in visitors from Australia over January 2014, while the annual number for 2014 was 313,054 visitors, 2.6 percent more than the previous year, according to a visitor industry tally released in February.

The visitor count is up 158 percent to the 2014 figure, from 121,482 in 2009.

“If any Australians are in Waikiki from the 9th through the 13th, they’re invited to come down and be part of the live audience,” Galea said.

Now, despite the forecast, the rest of us just have to pray, chant, cross your fingers, or engage in the practice you see fit, to help keep the weather as picture-perfect as possible, at least through Thursday’s show.

Reach Erika Engle at 529-4303, erika@staradvertiser.com or on Twitter as @erikaengle.