Hobbit tourism scatters more of Tolkien's magic across New Zealand
This time last year, New Zealand was under the spell of the Rugby World Cup, with host nation enthusiasm going a long way to realising the organisers' vision of a "stadium of four million". In 2012, the big event features hairy feet of a different sort, with the New Zealand-made film The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey opening with a world premiere in Wellington, the home town of director Sir Peter Jackson, in six weeks.
A decade after Jackson's three-film adaptation of JRR Tolkien 's The Lord of the Rings emerged to critical and popular acclaim, the countdown to The Hobbit - in its film form, also a trilogy - began last week in earnest. In earnest and in fact: Wellington mayor Celia Wade-Brown unveiled a giant clock, complete with an image of Martin Freeman as Bilbo Baggins, counting down the minutes to the 28 November premiere.
The clock sits atop the Embassy Theatre, the handsome 1920s cinema that will host the screening. 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 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. Organisers expect a similar turnout this time. "It will be a real carnival atmosphere," promises Wade-Brown.
There is nothing subtle about efforts to piggyback. 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".
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, Kazinform has learnt from the Guardian.
The cinematic Middle-earth, however, is becoming hard to avoid. Last week saw the launch of commemorative stamps and coins sporting the images of Freeman's Bilbo and Ian McKellen's Gandalf. A dollar coin will sell for NZ$30 (£15). A set of three $10 coins retails at $11,000 (£6,000).
Elsewhere, hints of the approaching publicity deluge keep appearing. 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". 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.
A shire of four million, then? Not quite. 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). But reports of "Middle-earth fever" are misplaced. The novelty of the scale and ambition of the Lord of the Rings project has dissipated, and for the most part enthusiasm is muted.
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 "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.
It is all a huge contrast from the Lord of the Rings experience. 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. "I don't think anyone in New Zealand was ready for it."
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. By 2004, the company had become exclusively focused on Lord of the Rings tourism. "It was initially full-on Ringons," says Heath. "People would be speaking elvish in the van, dressed as Sam or Frodo. Now it's settled back to everyday people. But most of our clients are absolutely committed, dedicated fans." They are also almost invariably from overseas. "New Zealanders are completely bemused by the interest here," she says.
Heath is expecting business, which has remained steady since hitting a peak in about 2005, to grow again with the Hobbit films. Her company, along with similar operators around New Zealand, is eagerly awaiting the likely release of location details. "We have an idea about them, but like everybody we don't know exactly where."
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