![]() Now it's settled back to everyday people. "People would be speaking elvish in the van, dressed as Sam or Frodo. "It was initially full-on Ringons," says Heath. By 2004, the company had become exclusively focused on Lord of the Rings tourism. Her company, based in the South Island tourist hub Queenstown, fielded numerous calls after the first release in 2001 from visitors eager to see the film locations – those that weren't created digitally, at least. "I don't think anyone in New Zealand was ready for it." ![]() Back then, tourist operators felt "ambushed" by fans of the films, says Melissa Heath, owner of Southern Lakes Sightseeing, which specialises in Lord of the Rings location tours. It is all a huge contrast from the Lord of the Rings experience. The "100% Middle-earth" campaign, it is hoped, will be a shot in the arm for an industry that has seen growth in visitor numbers stall in recent years. If there is feverishness, it is in the efforts of the tourism industry to "leverage The Hobbit", as the Tourism New Zealand chief executive has put it. The novelty of the scale and ambition of the Lord of the Rings project has dissipated, and for the most part enthusiasm is muted. But reports of "Middle-earth fever" are misplaced. Broadly, New Zealanders are behind Jackson's project, and appreciative of what the films have done for the film and tourism industries (the combined value of the Lord of the Rings trilogy to the New Zealand economy is estimated at more than NZ$700m, or £350m). Passengers on Air New Zealand will soon find themselves lectured on the location of their lifejackets by crew dressed as characters from The Hobbit in a new inflight safety video.Ī shire of four million, then? Not quite. At the top of the website for TVNZ, the country's biggest broadcaster, lining up alongside generic categories such as "news", "sport" and lifestyle is "The Hobbit". A set of three $10 coins retails at $11,000 (£6,000).Įlsewhere, hints of the approaching publicity deluge keep appearing. ![]() Last week saw the launch of commemorative stamps and coins sporting the images of Freeman's Bilbo and Ian McKellen's Gandalf. The cinematic Middle-earth, however, is becoming hard to avoid. It would all no doubt bewilder Tolkien, who conjured up his Middle-earth from Oxfordshire in the 1930s, and never travelled as far as New Zealand. The national tourism slogan "100% Pure New Zealand" has become "100% Middle-earth", while in the days leading up to the premiere Wellington will be "renamed", Wade-Brown announced last week, as "Middle of Middle-earth". There is nothing subtle about efforts to piggyback. "It will be a real carnival atmosphere," promises Wade-Brown. Organisers expect a similar turnout this time. The last time the 500m carpet was unrolled, for the world premiere of The Return of the King in 2003, about 120,000 people came to watch the procession. A bevy of international stars, led, it's safe to predict, by Freeman, will return to Wellington to walk the red carpet down Courtenay Place. The clock sits atop the Embassy Theatre, the handsome 1920s cinema that will host the screening.
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