New Zealand tops list of holiday destinations made famous by film or TV

New Zealand has won the top spot in a list of destinations made famous by film or television. After its stunning landscapes featured in Sir Peter Jackson’s famous trilogy, The Lord of the Rings, New Zealand has become a favourite holiday destination for travellers, according to a new British survey.

The survey, which was commissioned by the UK arm of HBO Entertainment, questioned 2000 adults and found that one in four regularly choose their vacation spot based on their favourite film or TV show.

The other popular destination according to the survey is New York, which claimed the second position for Sex and the City. Locations from the popular television series, Game of Thrones featured three times in the top 10.

According to The Australian, Tourism New Zealand also 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. About 200 locations across 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.

“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 filmmakers 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 as per the survey:

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