This was published 8 years ago
New Zealand named world's top destination made famous by film and TV
New Zealand topped the list, thanks to The Lord of the Rings trilogy.Credit: Shutterstock
New Zealand is the number one holiday destination made famous by film or television, thanks to its Middle-earth role on the big screen, according to a new British survey.
The survey of 2000 adults commissioned by the UK arm of HBO Entertainment found one in four regularly choose their holiday destination based on their favourite film or TV show.
New Zealand topped the list, thanks to Sir Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings trilogy.
New York rated second for Sex and the City, and Game of Thrones locations featured three times in the top 10.
Tourism New Zealand says that in the year ending March 2015, more than 80,000 visitors cited Jackson's The Hobbit trilogy as a factor in choosing New Zealand as their holiday destination.
Nearly 200 locations throughout New Zealand were used in both trilogies, with the Hobbiton location, now a permanent movie set in Waikato, being New Zealand's fastest growing tourist attraction.
Fantasy: The Lord of the Rings.
"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," Tourism New Zealand CEO Kevin Bowler said.
"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."
Top 10 TV or movie destinations
1. New Zealand - Lord of the Rings
2. New York, USA - Sex and the City
3. The Causeway Coast and Glens, Antrim, Northern Ireland - Game of Thrones
4. Las Vegas, USA - The Hangover
5. West Bay, Dorset, UK - Broadchurch
6. Alnwick Castle, Northumberland - Harry Potter
7. Paris, France - Inception
8. Benidorm, Spain - Benidorm
9. Iceland - Game of Thrones
10. Malta - Game of Thrones
See also: Air New Zealand's Hobbit video: 'The Most Epic Safety Video Ever Made'
See also: New Zealand's Lord of the Rings Hobbiton tour
See also: Surfing stars join latest Air New Zealand in-flight video
AAP
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