After its release in January last year, The Royal Treatment spent two weeks at No 1 on the Netflix global top-10 film list. Netflix operates in 190 countries.
Filming in Dunedin took place at Larnach Castle, Olveston Historic Home, around the University of Otago, in Vogel St and the Fable Dunedin hotel. The Victorian precinct in Oamaru also featured.
Larnach Castle enjoyed a lift in bookings at the time of the movie’s release and for several months afterwards, and an appropriately themed high tea was added to the dining experiences on offer.
Marketing manager Deborah Price used the movies success as part of her sales pitch on a Tourism New Zealand marketing trip to the United States last year.
"The film was very much a one-off and suited us at the time.
"We no longer promote The Royal Treatment packages as the relevance has run its course. But we expect much stronger trade from the US this coming season. Our forward bookings are very good, and we will also see China come back online.
"The cruise bookings will be stronger than last year, probably not many more boats but a higher occupancy on each."
The castle’s managing director Norcombe Barker said sending Mrs Price on the marketing trip was a way of "showing the castle was leading the way out of the Covid era and we wanted to put our money where our mouth was with investing with Tourism New Zealand offshore".
Olveston manager Jan Davies said there had been an early surge in bookings from tourists wanting to see where the movie was filmed.
"Most of those visiting with the movie in mind were from New Zealand and Australia. Not as many now but we still get comments from time to time from people interested in seeing where many of the films scenes were set," Mrs Davies said.
Fable Dunedin general manager Jeffrey Lee said there had been minimal impact on the hotel’s bookings, even at the time of the film’s release.
"I don’t think many people realised Fable Dunedin was one of the film locations," Mr Lee said.
A Dunedin City Council spokesperson said the Film Dunedin office continued to receive inquiries and visits from film, television and advertisement production companies "indicating the city remains an attractive destination for the industry". They were not able to discuss details of upcoming projects at this stage.
While Tourism Waitaki in Oamaru could not definitively say filming in the town’s Victorian precinct had played a part in the increase in both domestic and international visitor numbers to the region, acting general manager Philippa Agnew said that was likely.
"There will be a number of factors contributing to the increase, including the travel restrictions easing for Chinese travellers," Ms Agnew said.
"Slightly early than The Royal Treatment being filmed here, The Power of the Dog (in part) was also filmed in Oamaru.
"These movies may very well have contributed to Oamaru’s popularity for both our domestic and international visitors."
