More Good Press for NZ from Rings
Staff Reporter

New Zealand continues to get great exposure from The Lord Of The Rings film, with one British newspaper touting the Kiwi setting as the film's "real star".

Tourism New Zealand chief executive George Hickton said yesterday he was "thrilled" at the positive endorsement the film was providing for New Zealand.

The organisation's effort to encourage coverage of New Zealand as a travel destination in stories about the film seems to have paid off. About 80 per cent of coverage in the United Kingdom has included information on New Zealand as a destination.

In the past three months 85 stories have appeared in United Kingdom magazines and newspapers connecting New Zealand with the film - reaching up to 76 million readers.

The Sunday Express newspaper gushed: "If locations were awarded Oscars, New Zealand would scoop the lot . . . the strength and power of New Zealand's untouched countryside is the film's real star".

Stories about the film have appeared in all Britain's major daily newspapers, including The Times and The Guardian, as well as magazines like GQ and Conde Nast Traveller.

Mr Hickton said the publicity was especially valuable in light of the current uncertainty in the global tourism industry after the September 11 attacks in the US.

"And with two more instalments of the trilogy yet to be released, it gives New Zealand's profile a good base from which to build on."