New Zealand is a Hole (a Hobbit Hole that is)

Pimply-faced Tolkiens won’t be the first to queue for Peter Jackson’s upcoming The Hobbit trilogy — Tourism New Zealand has already staked out the front of that line. And they’re not holding back when it comes to Hobbit Love — their lastest campaign is filled with references to Sir Jackson’s homage to the shire.

Take a look at the latest Tourism New Zealand video:

100 % Pure Hobbit

Tourism New Zealand builds on their 100% Pure marketing campaign, and The Land of the Long White Cloud‘s shire roots in their new slogan: 100% Middle-Earth, 100% Pure New Zealand.

What’s more, fans of the Tolkien trilogy, and fans of holes in general, will be able to live out their shire fantasies in a visit to The Hobbit set at Hobbiton Movie Set Tours (which is already home to a fully reconstructed set from The Lord of the Rings trilogy). Here’s what Tourism New Zealand’s website had to say:

“There are 44 Hobbit holes at Hobbiton Movie Set Tours, which were reconstructed in 2011 for the feature films The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and The Hobbit: There and Back Again. This time the holes were made out of permanent materials , so the set can continue on as a tourism attraction. In fact you can even take a peek inside one of them! The site also includes a bridge, a mill and The Green Dragon, and has five full time gardeners to tend to the Hobbit’s gardens.”

What do you think of New Zealand Tourism’s Hobbit hubbub — have they made the right decision to leverage The Hobbit, or have they put themselves into a hole?

This post is sponsored by Tourism New Zealand

Raymond Walsh

I’m a travel blogger and freelance travel writer. I left behind my cubicle-shaped cell to see the world. Now I inspire others to “shake the shackles and escape through travel.” This is my blog.

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