The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit

Tolkien tourism is a phenomenon of fans of The Lordof the Rings and The Hobbit fictional universetravelling to sites of film- and book-relatedsignificance. It is especially remarkable in NewZealand, site of the movie trilogy filming.

Many of the locations have been preserved and altered to encourage the tourism that makes up a significant portion of the country’s economy.

Currently New Zealand is negotiating with Peter Jackson and New Line Cinema, the films' producers, to construct a permanent Lord of the Rings museum for some of the 40,000 props and costumes now warehoused in New Zealand.

The annual tourist influx to New Zealand jumped from 1.7 million in 2000 to 2.4 million in 2006 - a 40 % surge .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=RRA_eVAyH5c