13 Sep 2016
Game of Thrones puts Northern Irish tourism on the map
BY Tom Anstey
Millions of international Game of Thrones fans are expected to flock to Northern Ireland to see the show's signature sites after a tourism campaign reached more than 100 million people online.
Discover Northern Ireland teamed up with HBO – the show's producer – for its 2016 campaign, which was aiming to bring two million tourists to ‘The Real Westeros’ by the end of this year, up from a total of 1.9 million in 2015.
The campaign – rolled out to coincide with the show’s sixth season – featured a prominent rundown of filming locations in Northern Ireland and where to find them on its website, generating five million clicks and reaching an estimated 100 million plus people worldwide.
It is estimated that in the past year, Game of Thrones has generated £150m (US$199m, €177m) at the locations where the scenes were filmed.
Season seven of the hit HBO series will air in 2017, with more filming due over the winter months. Through the campaign, Northern Ireland’s tourist board has championed itself as the home of Game of Thrones, which is filmed primarily at Titanic Studios Belfast and 11 sites across Northern Ireland.
Among the sites fans of the series can visit, Northern Ireland includes The Iron Islands (Ballintoy Harbour), The Stormlands (Cushendun Caves), The King’s Road (Dark Hedges), Winterfell (Castle Ward) and Robb Stark’s Camp (Audley’s Field).
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