Licence to travel: Could you keep up with Bond? Photo / Supplied, Youtube
Licence to travel: Could you keep up with Bond? Photo / Supplied, Youtube
He can seduce the most cold-hearted of KGB agents and kill a man using only his wrist watch but, arguably, the thing James Bond does best is travel.
In the last 57 years, in 24 films the international man of mystery has visited 111 locations in fifty countries. In the upcoming Bond 25 No Time To Die, Bond visits a further five countries – Italy, Jamaica, Norway, his native United Kingdom and - for the first time - the tiny Nordic country of the Faroe Isles.
Matera, Italy, stands to gain as the backdrop to Bond 25. Photo / Getty Images
In all of those flights, all those international postings, he's never once lost his passport or missed a connecting plane. Nobody does it better. . . you could say.
Bond has even been to a couple of completely fictional locations San Monique and the Republic of Isthmus.
While many exotic locations are "cheated" by Hollywood movie magic and swapped out for a soundstage at London's Pinewood Studios, it's the travel and real world locations that draw people to the films.
Thailand has named James Bond Island in Phang Nga Bay after the spy, which draws 1.6 million tourists a year to the filming location of The Man with the Golden Gun.
James Bond Island: Phang Nga Bay in Thailand has become an attraction through its connection to Bond. Photo / Michael Parulva
The ancient Italian town of Matera which appears in the newest bond film is predicted to be the latest locations to benefit from the Bond Effect.
The town's mayor, Raffaello De Ruggieri, has predicted the on-screen appearance to be worth $20 million to the town's economy.
Some 007 location links are more tenuous than others. In 2012, the damp seaside town of Bognor Regis in the UK tried to claim its own bit of Bond movie history, after making a cameo in Sky Fall.
However there are some tourist destinations for which their Bond associations will be never say die.
James Bond's favourite places?
James Bond's most visited place? If you discount England the London-based spy's home country from the list (which appears as a location 19 times in the movies) what's left might surprise you.
Italy is by far Bond's top holiday destination. With eight outings Rome, Como and Venice are eternal favourites for the travelling spook.
The Cold War spy has been to Russia four times. Photo / File
Then it's the USA with seven visits. Surprisingly Bond's third most visited country is within enemy territory. The Cold War agent has been to Russia (with Love) four times, though only once during the Soviet Union.
Shockingly Bond has never been to New Zealand on an official capacity, but 'never say never'.
England 19 Italy 8 United States 7 Austria 4 Russia 4 Turkey 3 Bahamas 3 Hong Kong 3 Scotland 3 Spain 3
Who is the best travelled Bond?
If Daniel Craig bows out at the end of Bond 25, like he says he will, the actor will still not take the tile of best travelled secret agent. Craig has clocked up 24 over-seas missions, 29 by the end of No Time To Die. However the suave Roger Moor is the only Bond to have made 30 deployments and lived to tell the tale.
Roger Moor is the best travelled spy, and the only Bond to have gone to space. Photo / Supplied
The least adventurous of the Bonds is George Lazenby. Appearing in just one film, Lazenby only clocked up thee work trips for MI6 (Switzerland, Portugal and London) before he retired from the field. We think he should stick to Her Majesty's Secret Staycation.
Roger Moore 30 Daniel Craig 24 Sean Connery 23 Pierce Brosnan 22 Timothy Dalton 9 George Lazenby 3
