The New Zealand tourist board is expecting The Hobbit, the new film based on JRR Tolkien’s book, to have a similar effect on tourism in the country to the hugely successful Lord of the Rings movies. Guillermo del Toro is taking over directing duties from Peter Jackson for The Hobbit, which will be released as two films in December 2011 and 2012. The Lord of the Rings trilogy led to a major boost in tourism for New Zealand, with the locations used in the films seeing more than 37,000 annual visitors after the films were released. The Hobbit set to benefit New Zealand tourism