Northern Ireland turns to ‘Game of Thrones’ to draw in tourists

Northern Ireland tourism agents trying to spark some travel and pull in some revenues are looking to television for ideas, trying to piggyback off the popular HBO series “Game of Thrones” as a destination draw.

The series has millions of viewers, and it’s filmed in part in Northern Ireland. So Northern Ireland Enterprise Minister Arlene Foster suggested this week, The Associated Press reported: Why not use that to our tourism advantage?

Many of Northern Ireland’s castles and coastlines serve as centerpieces for “Game of Thrones” film shots, especially in the scenes that depict the fictional area, Westeros.

Ms. Foster said the strategy could bolster tourism to the country by more than 2 million each year by 2016, a figure that compares to the 1.8 million that visited this year, AP reported. She didn’t release details, however, of how she wanted to capitalize on the “Game of Thrones” link.