New Zealand favourite film destination

New Zealand is the top film destination people most want to visit in the world - thanks to its lead role in 'The Lord of the Rings' Trilogy – according to a new British survey.

The study by HBO television network, which looked at holiday destinations made famous by TV and film, found these places are booming in popularity with New Zealand topping the list of places viewers most want to travel to.

New York rated second for the Sex and the City fan trail, and Game of Thrones locations featured three times in the Top 10.

Tourism New Zealand Chief Executive Kevin Bowler says: “There’s no doubt these movies have given us a very successful platform on which to promote New Zealand as a great place to visit and experience a real movie set and we have been reaping the benefits of this for some time now.

“We have continuing interest from film makers wanting to use New Zealand as their backdrop and we are confident our role in film tourism is going to keep us top of mind for those people wanting to live the dream and visit their favourite film locations.”

In the year ending March 2015, more than 80,000 visitors said The Hobbit Trilogy was a factor in choosing New Zealand as their holiday destination. And Hobbiton, which acted as the Shire for the movies and is now a permanent movie set, is New Zealand’s fastest growing tourist attraction.