The economic impact of on-screen tourism: The case of The Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit

Abstract

The economic impacts of on-screen tourism are particularly interesting, and research in this area can provide useful information to governments making decisions regarding subsidising film production and forming relevant marketing strategies. No reliable and systematic approach for measuring the economic impacts of on-screen tourism currently exists, and this study is the first to evaluate the overall economic impacts of on-screen tourism by comparing the impacts of two series of films, The Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit, both filmed in New Zealand. A new approach combining econometric and computable general equilibrium modelling techniques is used in the assessment. The results show that The Lord of the Rings did not significantly impact on the tourism and economy of New Zealand, while the Hobbit Trilogy had a significant positive impact, which may be due to effective marketing strategies and media convergence.

The Impact of Tourism on Village Society

“…Another positive impact of tourism development that it could increase the chance for local community to have better income by selling the handicraft they create (Ningsih et al, 2018) such as sarung tenun Samarinda (Sudarmayasa et al, 2019), and so drives entrepreneurship activities (Subchan, 2014). Not only that, since infrastructure is being better, the transportation is available if tourism destination is developed (Li, S.N., 2017). The tourism sector is an effective sector in addressing the need to increase economic added value in tackling poverty (pro-poor) and job creation (projob) (Vitriani et al, 2018).…”

El turismo comunitario y sus impactos positivos en comunidades rurales. Un análisis de caso en Puerto Plata (República Dominicana)

“…El turismo es una actividad que se desarrolla en el territorio y esto hace que se produzcan impactos sobre el mismo (Woosnam, Draper, Jiang, Aleshinloye y Erul, 2018). La investigación sobre impactos derivados del turismo es importante en la literatura científica (Castellanos verdugo y Oviedo García, 2012;Pratt, 2015;Li, Li, Song, Lundberg y Shen, 2017). Se entiende el concepto impacto como el resultado de una compleja interacción de fenómenos, los cuales se manifiestan a través del vínculo existente entre los turistas, el área de destino y la población local (Quintero Santos, 2004).…”

“…La literatura científica diferencia entre impactos económicos positivos e impactos económicos negativos. Como impactos económicos positivos se pueden destacar la generación de oportunidades de empleo (Pratt, 2015;Ferrari, Mondéjar y Secondi, 2018), aumento de la fuente de ingresos para residentes (Pratt, 2015;Li et al, 2017), importantes oportunidades de negocio (Pratt, 2015;Li et al, 2017) y mejora de los estándares de vida (Villanueva-Álvaro, Mondéjar y Sáez, 2017). En cuanto a los impactos económicos negativos, destacan la temporalidad y desempleo en temporada baja (Bujosa y Roselló, 2007), el incremento del coste de vida (Guo, Robinson y Hite, 2017) y la inflación e incremento del valor y precio del suelo (Antón y González, 2008;Guo et al, 2017).…”

"Mind the scenery!" Landscape depiction and the travel intentions of Game of Thrones fans: some insights for DMOs

“…DMOs can implement several strategies to leverage on the popularity of films to raise tourist awareness and reinforce brand building (Hudson-Ritchie 2006, Volo-Irimiás 2016. The producers of the Lord of the Rings saga (Buchmann 2010, Jones-Smith 2005 and of The Hobbit (Li et al 2017 worked with New Zealand's DMOs in a joint marketing campaign to relabel and brand the country as "100% Middle-Earth" to explore New Zealand (Lundberget al 2017).…”