Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart star in the movie franchise
Twilight has proven hugely popular both on and off the screen. Twilight fever has taken over and has even fuelled a surge in the number of Brits considering a trip to Transylvania.
Travelex questioned fans, known as 'Twi-hards', after a marked increase in demand for the Romanian Leu. Analysis of currency sales figures reveals that demand is now 14 per cent higher than before the Twilight series.
Breaking Dawn was recently released in the cinemas and based on the uplift in Leu sales to date, Travelex predicts that as many as 3,000 British fans will travel to Transylvania between now and Christmas, in the wake of the film.
When questioned one in five fans claim that they have considered visiting the ancient region since watching the films. It comes as nearly half admitted they though Transylvania was a fictional place before the film sparked their interest in the location.
Local tourism in the region has also reported an increase. British visitor numbers are up 80 per cent in the three years since the start of the Twilight franchise, with advance bookings up by 50 per cent in the last four weeks, compared to the same period last year.
Of those planning on visiting Transylvania, over 90 per cent claim they are planning to go on vampire and Dracula styled trails, including ghoulish activities such as tours to Dracula’s birth place, visits to Dracula’s Castle in Borgo Pass and vampire themed costume parties.
Since its launch three year’s ago, the Twilight Saga has sold more than 155 million copies of the book around the globe and has been attributed with sparking a vampire craze worldwide.
Christian Ursulescu, owner of Go Romania Tours, the leading specialist tour operator on the Island says: “We run specialist vampire and Dracula tours across Romania and Transylvania. Every time another film comes out we gut a flurry of interest and October is always a busy time because of Halloween but this film is really fuelling interest. We have seen the biggest year on year spike in bookings ever – up by 50 per cent compared to October 2010. The franchise has really helped put the region on the map so we are looking forward to another busy winter.”