Hobbits recover from Covid

Hobbiton, one of Waikato’s premier tourist
attractions, reopens tomorrow (September 11) and will rely on the domestic
market to make up for the second Covid hit in as many years.

“We were down over 85% for 2020 compared to 2019 visitor numbers,”

Hobbiton Movie Set marketing manager Lily Craig said.

The year 2019 was the best on record for the Lord of
the Rings inspired attraction when it attracted more than 650,000 visitors – an
average of almost 1800 people a day.

Traffic at the Hobbits Movie Set in Buckland Rd, Hinuera was starting to recover in the domestic sector before the Delta breaks out in August.

“We have been very pleasantly surprised and encouraged by visitation over the past year considering our typical split pre-covid was around 90% international 10% domestic. We are on track to host around the same volume for 2021 as we did in 2020.”

Lily Craig said.

Hobbiton was established as a tourism attraction near
Matamata after film producer Peter Jackson’s team was attracted to the rolling
hills and lush green pastures of Alexander farm.

In 2009, Jackson returned to film The Hobbit trilogy and left behind the movie which is the cornerstone of the attraction.