The Hobbit timing a boost for business

Business generated by Hobbiton Movie Set and Farm Tours at Meetings 2011 is likely to be timely for the attraction, coinciding with the release of Peter Jackson's The Hobbit.
Although Hobbiton Movie Set and Farm Tours is located in Matamata, the attraction is closely linked to Rotorua, with buses transporting visitors from Rotorua to the Waikato farm and Matamata being a convenient stop for tourists travelling between Rotorua and Auckland.
General manager Russell Alexander told The Daily Post the business had restructured as the movie set was rebuilt for filming of The Hobbit later this year and he was keen to develop the conference and incentives side of the market.
"We have been to this market before, but since the rebuilding and restructuring, we are able to offer even better facilities."
The Shires Rest cafe and function centre is central to what Alexander and his team will be selling to the conferences and incentives market at the Meetings 2011 expo in Rotorua on June 23 and 24.
The Matamata farm was used as the set for The Shire in Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings film trilogy and has attracted more than 200,000 visitors since it converted the remains of the set into a tourist attraction.
Alexander said visitors were now able to visit the rebuilt set, although it was not yet known whether this would be allowed to remain post-filming.
Tours and the function centre will close for a short time during filming, but he said this was unlikely to influence expo buyers.
"Filming will be later in the year, although we don't know exactly when, but people at Meetings will not be looking to make bookings in a three-month window."
He said most conferences were booked at least a year in advance and business coming from this year's expo was likely to fit well with the release of The Hobbit movies in 2012 and 2013.
"We do expect these to give the business another boost."
Alexander pointed to the interest The Lord of the Rings generated for New Zealand tourism and said there was no reason why The Hobbit should not do the same.
"These are exciting times for us."
Meetings 2011 event manager Jeanette Stanton said expo exhibitor numbers were down slightly on last year, as the Christchurch earthquake had reduced the size of that city's representation. But she added there were still plenty of new exhibitors to offer new and interesting options for conference and incentive travel planners.
A new feature is a breakfast on the first morning, featuring presentations by Certain Software's Bill Taylor, television journalist Mike McRoberts, scientist Sir Ray Avery and motivational speaker and solo non-stop around-the-world sailor Tony Mowbray.
"All these speakers are very inspirational and have enjoyed enormous success in their own lives."