Belfast (TAN): As many as 350,000 tourists came to Northern Ireland from across the world to see hit HBO series Game of Thrones shooting locations and spent a whopping GBP 50 million in 2018, a report in The Irish Times said.
Citing Tourism Northern Ireland figures, the report said every one in six international visitors during this time came for Game of Thrones tourism. Visitors in this category came from North America, Europe, India, Australia, China and elsewhere.
“It has been a phenomenal success and it has been fantastic for North Ireland to be associated with this worldwide success over the past 10 years. It has been so positive for Northern Ireland and HBO has been very, very good to us throughout this time,” the chief executive of Tourism Northern Ireland, John McGrillen, said.
The eighth and final season of Game of Thrones is airing now.
Apart from the 26 filming locations, the region offers the series-inspired food experiences as well.
McGrillen, the report added, said the HBO series had given a huge boost to tourism in the region.
Saying that Northern Ireland was going to have a permanent attraction for fans with “Game of Thrones legacy experiences”, the tourism body chief executive said a GOT studio tour would open in Spring 2020 at the Linen Mill Studios in Banbridge.
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“This new 110,000 sqft interactive experience will give fans the opportunity to see behind the scenes how the series is made and feature many of the original props and costumes and sets from the series,” he said.
