What is film tourism?
Film tourism describes the effects that film and TV-productions can have on our travel decisions as they inspire people to experience the screened places firsthand. Not only is film tourism an excellent vehicle for destination marketing, it also presents new product development opportunities, such as location tours, film museums, exhibitions and the theming of existing tourist attractions with a film connection.1
Film tourism is a growing phenomenon worldwide, fueled by both the growth of the entertainment industry and the increase in international travel. An article in „Journal of Travel” proposes a model for exploiting film tourism marketing opportunities. It identifies the optimum marketing factors that encourage film tourists to visit destinations that appear (or are depicted) in the movies. Factor analysis reveals four types of marketing activities in which destinations can engage to promote film tourism:
• proactive efforts to encourage producers and studios to film at the location,
• efforts to generate media publicity around the film and its location,
• marketing activities that promote the film location after production,
• peripheral marketing activities that leverage film tourism potential.
Results of a stepwise multiple regression analysis indicate a high correlation between film tourism success and one of the four factors: the proactive efforts of destinations that encourage producers and studios to film at their location. 2
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