Northern Ireland urged to turn Game of Thrones set into visitor attraction
by Tom Anstey | 05 Aug 2015
The Wall is one of the focal points of Game of Thrones / HBO
With Northern Ireland on a continued push of the Game of Thrones brand as a means to increase tourism in the country, officials are calling for the set of the show’s ice wall to be turned into a permanent visitor attraction.
In reality a disused cement works in County Antrim, The Wall – a 300 mile (483km) ice wall which separates Westeros from the north’s Wildlings, White Walkers and giants – is a key part of the books and television series.
Local councillors have asked show producer HBO to leave the set behind once filming is completed so the site can be used as part of its ongoing Game of Thrones tourism drive. The site would work particularly well as a tourist attraction as there are already plans in place to carry out a wider development of the area for recreation once filming is complete.
"To have the set there would be the icing on the cake," said East Antrim MP, Sammy Wilson. "It is a magnificent site and it would be a massive tourist attraction. The number of buses and people who stop to try and get a view of it is an indication of that."
Tourism Ireland teamed up with HBO and Game of Thrones, in April for a 14-week campaign to promote Northern Ireland around the world in 2015, drawing fans of the series to the country to see the signature sites.
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).
Northern Ireland’s tourist board offers a prominent rundown on the filming locations and where to find them on its website and last year ran an 11-week online campaign in Britain, the US, Canada, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands and Scandinavia, which generated one million clicks and is estimated to have reached about 100 million fans worldwide.
Discover Northern Ireland teamed up with HBO for its 2015 campaign, which aims to bring more than two million tourists to ‘The Real Westeros’ by 2016 from a total of 1.8 million in 2013. It is estimated that in the past year, Game of Thrones has generated £87m (US$128m, €199.6m) at the locations where the scenes were filmed.
With Northern Ireland on a continued push of the Game of Thrones brand as a means to increase tourism in the country, officials are calling for the set of the show’s ice wall to be turned into a permanent visitor attraction. In reality a disused cement works in County Antrim, The Wall – a 300 mile (483km) ice wall which separates Westeros from the north’s Wildlings, White Walkers and giants
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