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Where New Zealand is concerned, more visitors
now travel there from longer distances. From nearby Australia,
the percentage dropped 1.4%. But from distant United Kingdom,
the numbers traveling to New Zealand have gone up 11.1%. From
across the Pacific, more people came from Japan, Korea, China,
and Taiwan. (See NZ
Tourism Information)
SPOTLIGHT ON TOUR COMPANIES
Arriving in the islands, visitors now have several Rings-related
tour options. While not all the new options are eco-sensitive,
many are conscientious.
In J.R.R. Tolkien's classic story, the pleasure-loving Hobbits
-- a force for sustaining the environment -- enjoy a simple
lifestyle and tread lightly on the earth. Rings
Scenic Tours can show visitors remnants of the Hobbiton
set, a location selected for its lovely, rural landscapes, and
perhaps the visit will inspire people to simplify their lifestyles.
Fans remember that mythic ecotourists Frodo and Sam traveled
mainly on foot, wrapping themselves in cloaks, and sleeping
on the ground (and perhaps in trees!) A company called Hiking
New Zealand takes small groups on eco-sensitive tours in different
regions. Hiking
New Zealand tours visit two locations used in filming LOTR,
Tongariro National Park, and Kahurangi National Park. "The safaris
give the same sense of fellowship and adventure as the film,"
says spokesman Mark Brabyn.
Clearly, people need to experience wild places so they can
become motivated to conserve them. Taste a wild strawberry,
listen to a cooing pigeon, admire a tiny green orchid ... you
can't get these experiences inside a tour bus. Awkwardly, mass
transport insulates travelers from the very environment they
wish to experience.
In Tolkien's classic story, the orcs and other evil creatures,
moving en masse, use their energies for destruction and death.
Novel readers will recall the litter left by evil hordes in
"The Two Towers." It's Aragorn, a friend of the Hobbits, who
notices "things that had been dropped or cast away: food bags,
the rings and crusts of hard grey bread, a torn black cloak,
a heavy iron-nailed shoe." (from LOTR, Part 2)
On a LOTR-themed motorcoach tour, visitors can now view scenery
from all three films with Red
Carpet Tours. They also see other New Zealand highlights:
Bay of Islands, Rotorua, West Coast Glaciers, and Milford Sound.
The company does take visitors into national parks and reserves
using permits from the DOC. There's also time to take jet boat
rides, or even go bungy jumping, according to the company.
PROTECTING THE ATTRACTIONS
Visitors to DOC-managed lands in New Zealand will see no traces
of the filmmakers, insists Harry Maher. It takes time and effort
to experience New Zealand's natural beauty by walking to hidden,
mirror lakes; paddling through mangrove estuaries; or exploring
moving glaciers. Air New Zealand now encourages people to view
"Middle-earth by air, "the fastest way". "Almost 90 per cent of
the airline's 44 domestic Express Class routes fly over locations
used in filming of the epic ..." says a news release.
"It took 90 years for New Zealand to reach its first million
visitors per annum," claims Tourism New Zealand chief executive
George Hickton. It took "only a decade for it to attract a million
more."
He adds a warning. "We want to make sure that New Zealand
always benefits from tourism and that we do not harm what attracted
visitors here in the first place -- our stunning environment."
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