{"id":631061,"date":"2026-10-15T05:10:17","date_gmt":"2026-10-15T05:10:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/631061\/"},"modified":"2026-10-15T05:10:17","modified_gmt":"2026-10-15T05:10:17","slug":"the-hunt-for-gollum-puts-wellington-back-on-the-map-for-set-jetting-tourists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/631061\/","title":{"rendered":"The Hunt for Gollum puts Wellington back on the map for set-jetting tourists"},"content":{"rendered":"

Two giant LOTR eagles, one with Gandalf astride, hung over travellers at Wellington Airport for 12 years.<\/a><\/p>\n

Expedia is now picking LOTR to spark interest in Wellington as a destination again in 2027.<\/p>\n

The travel booking site has released its Unpack \u201927: The Trends in Travel report, which includes a list of the most popular set-jetting locations for next year.<\/p>\n

Set-jetting is now an established travel behaviour, inspired by locations promoted in movies and TV shows.<\/p>\n

Expedia says the LOTR franchise remains the No 1 set-jetting driver in the world, covering 27% of market demand. With a new film due to be released next year, The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum, that hype is expected to increase.<\/p>\n

\"MtMt Potts Station provided some of the dramatic backdrops for the Lord of the Rings movies.<\/p>\n

In the new guide, Wellington is ranked fifth globally on the list of popular set-jetting locations. Expedia says the list is compiled using insights from first-party data, social listening and 26,000 travellers.<\/p>\n

The travel site also mentions the release of The Legend of Zelda as spiking interest in Wellington.<\/p>\n

\u201cFive years after Expedia first named set-jetting as a travel trend, nearly one in five travellers now report having booked a trip to a destination after seeing it featured in a TV show or movie.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn 2027, the films and shows that will drive the set-jetting trend are highly anticipated new seasons, sequels, and extensions of franchises and fandoms travellers love.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"MovieMovie stars Liv Tyler and Orlando Bloom ride through Wellington to the world premiere of The Return of the King in 2003. Photo \/ Getty<\/p>\n

Tourism New Zealand names Hobbiton as one of the country\u2019s most distinctive tourism attractions and features it in its latest 100% Pure New Zealand international campaign.<\/p>\n

General manager international Angela Blair said: \u201cYou almost can\u2019t separate Middle Earth from New Zealand anymore.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s incredible that 25 years later, some 14% of holiday visitors to New Zealand still credit these films as influencing their decision to come.<\/p>\n

\u201cNew Zealand\u2019s tourism sector has taken up the opportunity to attract this segment of visitors and over the years film tourism operators now cater to this segment specifically, visiting film locations.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TwoTwo Lord of the Rings eagles, one with Gandalf astride, hung in Wellington Airport for 12 years.<\/p>\n

Wellington\u2019s W\u0113t\u0101 Workshop started nearly 40 years ago, but after the success of LOTR, fans were given behind-the-scenes access with the opening of the W\u0113t\u0101 Cave in 2008. <\/p>\n

Two years later, tours began, bringing in 35,000 guests in the first year and increasing to more than 100,000 visitors annually.<\/p>\n

W\u0113t\u0101 Workshop head of tourism Sam Holdich said the LOTR connection is still drawing people to its experiences 25 years on.<\/p>\n

Holdich credits the films for the initial tourist demand for W\u0113t\u0101, which has since expanded to Auckland with its W\u0113t\u0101 Workshop Unleashed experience opening in 2020. <\/p>\n

W\u0113t\u0101\u2019s attractions welcome 200,000 guests annually.<\/p>\n

\"HobbitonHobbiton is one of New Zealand\u2019s most distinctive and visited tourist attractions.<\/p>\n

W\u0113t\u0101 is making the most of the 25th anniversary hype, with two special screenings of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring in Wellington and Auckland, hosted by co-founders Richard Taylor and Tania Rodger. <\/p>\n

And in classic Hollywood style, they\u2019re keeping other future plans under wraps. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis summer we\u2019re introducing an exclusive new cinema experience for fans of The Lord of the Rings at W\u0113t\u0101 Workshop in Wellington, while we can\u2019t share more than that for now, watch this space.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"GuestsGuests to W\u0113t\u0101 Workshop Unleashed have included Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Tourism Minister Louise Upston. Photo \/ Dean Purcell<\/p>\n

Tourism NZ is also utilising the milestone to cement New Zealand\u2019s association with the franchise.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs it\u2019s the 25th anniversary of The Lord of the Rings this year, we look forward to continuing to tell this story to the world by working with global travel and lifestyle media to make sure that New Zealand continues to be talked about in those conversations,\u201d Blair said.<\/p>\n

Other destinations Expedia has picked to be popular with the set-jetting crowd next year include Greece and Monaco, inspired by Emily in Paris season six, Cannes and Saint-Tropez in France, inspired by The White Lotus season four, Seoul in South Korea, inspired by K-Pop: The Debut, and Toronto and Montreal in Canada, inspired by Heated Rivalry season two.<\/p>\n

Grace Symmans<\/a> is a Wellington-based reporter who covers news in the capital. Grace joined NZME in 2025 as a producer for Wellington Mornings on Newstalk ZB. She can be emailed at grace.symmans@nzme.co.nz<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Two giant LOTR eagles, one with Gandalf astride, hung over travellers at Wellington Airport for 12 years. Expedia…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":631062,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[6030,1863,34521,156,2082,1437,270382,10937,10539,23226,111,139,1536,69,90,1642,60725,10903,43296,10540,309326,1857,3179,223,17489,9182,274,52,379],"class_list":["post-631061","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-again","tag-back","tag-destination","tag-entertainment","tag-for","tag-global","tag-gollum","tag-hunt","tag-lord","tag-map","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-next","tag-nz","tag-on","tag-online","tag-picking","tag-popular","tag-puts","tag-rings","tag-setjetting","tag-site","tag-thanks","tag-the","tag-tourist","tag-tourists","tag-travel","tag-wellington","tag-year"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/631061","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=631061"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/631061\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/631062"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=631061"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=631061"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=631061"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}