As predictions of global tourism growth rise to the greatest levels in history, filmmakers join tourism bodies to maximise the impact a film’s location has on today’s more adventurous travellers, said Joachim Holte, Chief Marketing Officer, Wego. “Today’s traveller seeks inspiration and unique experiences; destinations that tell a story and capture the imagination. Both destination marketers and filmmakers have recognised that film-induced tourism creates a mutually beneficial promotion and caters to the growing desire of travellers seeking out the more unusual destinations and experiences,” he explained.
In his opinion, Film and television can often spark the urge to visit the location they were filmed in. “We saw this just recently after a survey of Australian travellers who cited New York and Europe as their dream Christmas destinations, inspired by film classics. A great example is New Zealand who have very successfully leveraged their natural treasures as the backdrop to the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit movies,” he added.
Just recently, with Australia’s Gold Coast as a backdrop, Tourism Australia, in partnership with Tourism and Events Queensland, collaborated with Pritish Nandy Communications and Balaji Motion Pictures in the Bollywood film, ‘Shaadi Ke Side Effects’ (Side Effects of a Marriage), to promote Australia as the perfect choice for romantic holidays.
The Singapore Tourism Board invested $6.3 million from its ‘Film in Singapore’ scheme that subsidizes international film productions by up to 50 percent. Bollywood’s ‘Krrish’ was the first to take advantage of the scheme, and Indian tourist traffic to Singapore increased dramatically immediately after its release.
“Within the world of online culture and social connectivity that we now live in, film is becoming one of the biggest opportunities tourism bodies have. Today’s travellers see themselves as explorers; they dig deeper into destinations than they did in the past and feel emotionally linked to destinations they’ve experienced on the big screen,” stated Holte.
Last year, India’s Ministry of Tourism launched a ‘Land of Pi’ campaign on the back of Ang Lee’s film, Life of Pi, and Senator Grace Poe is very publicly pushing a bill for more funding and support to promote film tourism in the Philippines. In Ireland this month, the government announced it will activate what they refer to as the ‘Tom Cruise clause’, so film producers who bring in Hollywood stars receive tax relief.
“Film tourism will continue to grow in Asia too. Industry experts cite Asian travellers as one of the world’s greatest film tourists. As travel becomes more economically viable with more low cost carriers and simple online travel booking options, it can be assumed that dedicated fans in China, Taiwan, Thailand and South Korea (who are avid consumers of film and television) will pursue film based locations more frequently in the future,” Holte concluded.
