Movie-induced tourism: The challenge of measurement and other issues

Abstract

Within the literature on tourism marketing and place promotion, there is very little research related to movie sites, including television programme locations, in Britain. This study discusses the concept of movie-induced tourism in relation to the wider phenomenon of cultural and literary tourism. The challenge of measurement is considered via a small-scale survey of visitors to Notting Hill in London, the setting for the successful movie starring Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts. The results showed a visitor profile which is fairly consistent with the findings from the literature; frequency results indicated that many visitors to Notting Hill had a fairly clear destination image prior to their visit, a large number of respondents knew of other television and film locations and a majority of respondents would consider travelling to television or film locations in the future. About two-thirds of respondents agreed with the fact that television programmes and films encourage tourism to a certain area, which shows an overall awareness and acceptance of the phenomenon of movie-induced tourism within the survey population.

Film tourism – Evolution, progress and prospects

“…The headline-grabbing results delivered by some film tourism studies are favoured by local government, the media, marketing organisations and economic development agencies but the methods used to induce this data must be examined for accuracy, particular where fiscal incentives are provided to film-makers on the basis of wider economic development. Busby and Klug (2001) identified the methodological problems in surveying film tourists, while Christopherson and Rightor (2010) discuss the procedural challenges of capturing the actual benefits of film tourism. As the natural geography of each site is different it may be possible to derive visitor numbers, particularly given areas with "clearly demarcated spatial boundaries" (Busby and Klug 2001: 325), but less easy to ascertain economic value given available sites of expenditure.…”

“…Clearly, film tourism yields unique destination marketing opportunities which DMOs compete to nurture. It is a difficult phenomenon to measure (Busby and Klug, 2001) but is increasing in importance as a means of destination marketing. Research identifies that destination images can be shaped through vicarious consumption of film and TV locations.…”

“…Busby and Klug 2001;Beeton 2005;Croy and Heitmann 2011), and outlined in Figure 2, and within the following typology:…”

“…Cases where film tourism effects have been observed now proliferate, and examples range across the spectrum of genres, from: blockbusters and 'must-see' films like Braveheart (Edensor 2001(Edensor , 2005, Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings (LOTR) (Jones and Smith etc); romantic films like Notting Hill (Busby and Klug 2001); heritage and costume film and TV dramas (Higson 2006), such as Pride and Prejudice (Sargent 2001), Sense and Sensibility and Downton Abbey; continuing dramas, or 'soaps', such as Winter Sonata (Kim, Agrusa, Lee and Chon 2007) and Sea Change (Beeton 2004); more cult offerings like Monty Python (Beeton 2005) and Twilight; through to thrillers such as Motor Cycle Diaries (Shani et al 2008); travel-gastronomy style shows such as those presented by Rick Stein, and; even children's programmes such as Balamory (Connell 2005a). It is not the intention of this paper to cite the full range of examples and increases in tourism, suffice to say, examples of film tourism abound in the literature (see summaries by Tooke and Baker 1996;Riley, Baker and van Doren 1998;Hudson and Ritchie 2006a;Croy and Heitmann 2011) which collectively chart cases of film tourism through time), as well as in popular press and commissioned reports (see Grihault 2003Grihault , 2007Olsberg|SPI 2007).…”

Treading in the footsteps of literary heroes: an autoethnography

“…Literary tourism arises when authors or their literature become so popular that people are drawn to either those locations that the author was associated with or those that were featured within the writings of that particular author (Busby & Klug, 2001). Literary tourism has grown into a commercially significant phenomenon (Hoppen, Brown and Fyall, 2014) and as a result of this place connected to literature is frequently used to promote destinations (Herbert, 2001;Watson, 2006).…”