A Travelogue in Film Tourism

 

Aikaterini Michopoulou

MSc  Tourism Business Administration, Open Hellenic University, Parodos Aristotelous 8 26335 Patra, Greece

Department of Tourism Management, University of West Attica, Agiou Spyridonos 12235 Aigaleo

 

 

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this article is to display the role of lands and places that have a special cinematic significance, since they have been spots of inspiration for directors and producers to shoot films on the big screen. This text aims to investigate the role of cinema to economy, culture and tourism of the mentioned areas and its contribution to their promotion and development. References from United Kingdom, Italy and Greece will be presented and utilized as case studies that research the main frame of film tourism management in destinations.

Key Words: film tourism, cultural tourism, economy, image, tourism destinations

 

 

1.  An introduction to cultural tourism

In 1985, UNTWO introduced cultural tourism as a cultural motivated journey (Moira, Parthenis, 2011) which includes a wider range of cultural activities, such us history, arts, museums, religion, gastronomy, etc., configures the global heritage and highlights a location as a potential tourism destination. The proper management of above activities can imply to positive impacts in local or national economy, society, job creation, reduction of seasonality and extension of tourism season, attracting tourists/visitors of high standard of living, redistribution of tourism flows in rural and mountainous areas and reconfiguration of prices (Michopoulou, Maniou, 2020).

In tourism industry, products are provided that focus on sustainable tourism development. Specifically, it isn’t about goods or services but about products in a wider meaning, which use sustainable policies and are offered as alternative ways of the tourism experience. The foundation of the tourism sustainability is the development of alternative tourism and its forms, where special issues such as environment, culture, nature, gastronomy, etc. are combined with each other (Coccossis, Tsartas, 2001) and simultaneously it is provided an opportunity for both tourists and locals to share new experiences and positive feedback (Galani-Moutafi, 2002). Culture is the most valuable and important element of any host country, because it contributes to the development of tourism by offering resources such as monuments, archaeological sites, customs, arts, letters, human rights, landscapes of ecological interest, sporting events, etc. As places become "sights, historical events become today's tourism "experiences" and as every aspect of the real is reshaped for the "tourism look", reality becomes one with the hyper-reality, at least for tourists (Buchmann, et al., 2010). "Visual culture" dominates societies that have invested so deeply in the visual reproduction and archiving of living experience (Barnaby, 2018).

 

1.1  Film tourism

The evolution of image digitization has replaced reading and many literary texts have been transferred to cinema screens. Many popular and classic books became movies and TV series, such as Les Miserables (2000), The Lord of the Rings (2001-2003), The Game of Thrones (2011-2019), through which, many locations have become top tourism destinations. People with longing for the cinema, also become potential tourists / visitors to destinations where films have been shooted. As a result, the specific locations have gained high demand, exploitation and tourism development (Kim, et al., 2017). According to Hahm & Wang (2011), nostalgia combined to the "pilgrimage" and the escape from everyday life, motivate tourists / visitors to choose such destinations.

Heitmann (2010) claims that, tourism based on movies includes sightseeing tours to a destination or to an attraction that appears on TV, video or on cinema. A new form of tourism arises, film tourism, whose precursor is mainly the literary tourism. Common point of the two forms constitutes the creation of new tourism destinations and familiar images through narratives, which now become visual (O'Connor & Kim, 2013). Film tourism and related tourism concepts including the effects of television, film and media culture have become more popular and discussions on this topic include economic impacts research, marketing and placement products, tourist’s motivation and experiences and the image of each destination (Heitmann, 2010).

Dyer (1981), as reported by Papadimitriou (2000), points out that entertainment, like tourism, offers the image of something better in order to help someone escape or something that someone wants deeply and everyday life does not offer it to him, i.e. alternative choices, hopes, desires, the feeling that things could be better, that something other than what can be imagined that might come true. Films are capable of creating positive impacts on local economy, destination image, property prices, traffic and infrastructure, but also are capable of having a negative impact on the environment, infrastructure, traffic, property values, host community, visitor’s experience, economy, culture and privacy (Hahm & Wang, 2011).

Busby and Klug (2001) provide an extensive list of different forms and characteristics of film-induced tourism:

• The location of a movie can be an attraction itself (before or as a result of the movie).

• Film tourism can be a part of the holidays

• Film tourism appears as a unique and main purpose due to special interest.

• Film tourism packages can be created by the private sector,

• Natural landscape, historical background, story theme, actors, symbolic content and human relationships can serve as images and important events for the cinema

• Film tourism in places where romantic scenes have been shot

• Travel programs

A survey conducted in the summer of 2004/2005 and 2005/2006 focused on analysing three 15-day national tours each, with each tour covering at least 30 locations between Queenstown on South Island and Auckland on North Island of New Zealand and relatively on-site study of these conducted tours, allowed in-depth the examination of selected features related to the tourists’ expectations and experience of the trilogy ‘’The Lord of the Rings (2001-2003)’’ for a period. Results from two questionnaires which were shared before and after the tour, and through interviews, showed that most of the participants did not consider themselves fans of the movies but were looking forward to living the experience of landscapes and specific locations. However, they had differences significantly in their motivations and expectations regarding their tourism experience in New Zealand. Many others claimed that they wanted to live in New Zealand and that was extremely important to them. Also, everyone perceived the position of New Zealand as a fair presentation of Middle-Earth described in Tolkien's novel and many considered its setting to be authentic and worth a visit. Finally, almost all participants continued to interpret this destination as a green and friendly place without significant issues. In this case the supporting role of the landscape both in the Lord of the Rings films and as a background for the trip could not be underestimated, as it offered a satisfying tourism experience, unlike other films where there was a difficulty in this combination (Buchmann, et al., 2010).

Indeed, film productions are attracting a growing niche market of tourists who are fascinated by the images of destinations as portrayed in the films and have positive effects, such as enhancing the image of the destination and developing tourism flows (Volo, Irimiás, 2015). There are many benefits that become apparent, such as increased economic activity and traffic, maintenance and further utilization of attractions, improvements in existing infrastructure, but there are also many negative impacts, such as the burden of the natural environment, resulting in the change of the landscape compared to film, mass, rising prices and exploitation of the locals in matters of labor (Hudson & Ritchie, 2005).

 

1.2  Film Tourism – Case studies

The destination image through "filmography", in some cases, can reverse the preferences of potential tourists, so it is required by countries a destination image management strategy plan (Glen, 2010). The necessity to project a strong image of each destination is unanimously the key to a marketing strategy, which has to be followed (O'Connor, et al., 2008), by each country in order to attract more tourists / visitors. Marketing activities of a destination are divided into the following:

• film tourism marketing plan
• Innovation and product development
• mediation and new technology
• brand name - configuration of the destination image
• marketing in the film industry

(Volo & Irimiás, 2015).

 

1.2.1United Kingdom

There are plenty of countries that have developed tourism through films/movies, such as the example of Great Britain, which has a wide range of films: Mary Poppins (1964), Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994), Fever Pitch (1996), Mission Impossible ( 1996) and Sliding Doors (1998), Harry Potter (2001-2011), Sherlock Holmes (2009, 2011), 'Da Vinci Code' (2006), Pride & Prejustice (2003), etc. and through these films it has been financially supported by tax revenues for the shooting of them, it has created a film industry that contributes to the cultural life of United Kingdom (Oxford Economics, 2007) and has formed a literary-cinematic identity as a tourism destination.

                         Figure 1. The National and Regional Screen Agencies

 

According to a study by Oxford Economics (2007), the film industry in 2006 contributed more than 4.3 million pounds to the country's GDP, some of which supported the creation of about 95,000 jobs. For the development of the film tourism product, a strategic plan for the creation of film infrastructure (studios) was set up and a network of regional agencies was developed (Figure 1) for the whole island, under the supervision of the UK Film Council, where a variety of resources was provided, aimed at the development of public access and its education in cinema and image (Oxford Economics, 2007).

 

1.2.2Italy:  Sicelia, Capri

Vacanze d’Amore (1954), was the first film that raised the awareness of the image of Cefalù's as a tourism destination. The production added glamour to the coastal zone of Sicily showing the idyllic seaside landscape and warm atmosphere and promoted its newly built tourism infrastructure (the French-owned resort "Village Magique"). Among marketing initiatives, events such as the Rally of Cinema with Anita Ekberg and the Cefalù Fashion Event related to films hosted by celebrities in collaboration with the newly formed DMO were organized (Volo & Irimiás, 2015).

The beauty of the unique place where Casa Malaparte is located, island of Capri, did not get unnoticed by the director Jean-Luc Godard, who directed in 1961 the famous film ‘’Le Mépris’’, where the architecture portrays a leading role and it closely related to the script of the film ( Romano, 2020), (Yunis, 2019). In 2016, in Cannes Film Festival, a poster for the event was published, immortalizing Casa Malaparte through Godard's film.

 

2  Film tourism, Greece – Development prospects

Greece’s fame apart from its history, was expanded mainly in the 50’s- 60’s, when "Hollywood" productions, such as The Child and the Dolphin (1957), The Cannons of Navarone (1961), Zorbas (1963), turned Greek islands into attractive tourism destinations. The promotion of the country, continues in the 80's, when Roger Moore starred in the film James Bond: For Your Eyes Only (1981) and magical images of Corfu and the imposing Meteora[1] unfold on the movie screen. Greece also enchants European cinema, with the director Luk Besson choosing Amorgos as the location for the filming of The Infinite Blue (1988), resulting in the large association of the island with its commercial success.

In 2001, Louis de Barnieres' "Captain Corelli's Mandolin" (1994) was screened in the cinema, where the island of Cephalonia was extensively promoted. The island gained a great reputation and the demand for visiting was boosted mainly by UK tourists, because according to Hudson and Ritchie (2005), a book and a movie together had a positive effect on that tourism movement. Local economy and society were strengthened, but at the same time mass tourism was increased and as a result the film remained as a memory and none of the building blocks left by the producers was used to promote film tourism in the area, everything was demolished and those in charge, local and national, in tourism simply contented themselves with the phenomenon of mass tourism.

The ΄΄cinematic journey΄΄ continues in the Aegean Sea, on the island of Mykonos, where Matt Damon as Jason Bourne in the film Without Identity (2002) enjoys its beauties, in Santorini with the film Lara Croft - Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life (2003) with Angelina Jolie praises the volcanic landscape, in Skopelos with Mama Mia (2008), where Meryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth and Amanda Seyfried, take off the island enjoying its beauties under the sounds of Abba and in historical Mani, where the end of the romantic comedy story Before Midnight (2013) between Ethan Hawke and Julie Delby took place.

Also, Greek films and musicals have made special and extensive use of tourist images, depicting characters, landscapes and emphasizing the lines and images related to tourism. The characters travel to islands, historical monuments, picturesque villages, but also modern hotels, beaches and nightclubs, visit Athens and Thessaloniki, which are identified by the Parthenon and the White Tower, as well as their modern developments - streets, hotels, new buildings. (Papadimitriou, 2000).

Although Greece is one of the most important cultural destinations with a variety of cultural activities, according to the results of a study by SETE (2018)[2] which concerned the profile of incoming tourists, it turned out that the largest percentage of the European tourism market, 90%, prefers the country mainly for the sun and the sea in contrast to non-European tourists where 41% choose it for educational purposes. Although there is a background for the development of film tourism, in the aforementioned parts, there has never been a state initiative to create a development framework for implementation. It has settled for the contribution of Hollywood stars, who display the destinations for the promotion of their films, the fame of the past and the mass tourism.

In particular, there could be a network of cinematic routes, part of the cultural paths, where the tourist / visitor through maps could experience the cinematic experience. In Kefalonia, although Horgota beach (Pelagia beach) is still a tourist attraction due to Captain Corelli's Mandolin film, and its scenes with Penelope Cruz, the abandonment and neglect of the podium set up by production, tarnish the idyllic landscape, which could be a landmark for the island.

 

3  Management film tourism destinations

Barich and Kotler (1991) recognize that measurements of a destination image are a useful marketing planning tool. The first step is to evaluate the image of the destination, where it involves two relevant parts: evaluation of the real image and evaluation of the ideal image of the target market. The second step is to measure the image periodically and systematically. The third is to compare the real picture to the ideal picture of the target market destination in order to identify differences between them. The fourth step is to develop strategies to address the identified differences, which then feeds the first or second step of the process. These strategic steps must be inherent in the management of a destination, focusing on the future by defining the management of its image as more than just a simple promotion of it.

The most important thing for destination managers is that the movie can change the image of the location and modify the availability and evaluation of a destination (Croy, 2010). The impact it can have on tourism is well documented through several case studies and is recognized in tourism council marketing campaigns around the world. For example, Movie Maps are available to direct tourists to key locations depicted in movies e.g. Match Point, Closer, Bridget Jones, Love Actually, Thunderbirds, Miss Potter, Pride and Prejudice.

 

4  Conclusions

The trend of today is the alternative journey that challenges and fascinates (Nathanail, 2007). The development of an AFT grid in a spatial unit enables it to be a remarkable destination (Varvaresos, 2009), which should be displayed and promoted in the tourism market, as a place with identity (Middleton & Hawkins, 1998). The modern tourist/consumer is more demanding, is possessed of ecological, cultural and consumer consciousness and seeks uniqueness in a tourist destination (Varvaresos, 2009). The initial stage of image formation before the trip is the most important phase in the destination selection process (Hahm & Wang, 2011).

The image of the destination is a key component of the tourism decision-making process, and therefore, a key element in the management of a sustainable destination, while also influences future markets by creating awareness, availability and evaluation of the place and ensuring tourist’s choice of destination (Croy, 2010). In film tourism, celebrities also play an important role in tourism selection processes and travel behaviours. Therefore, film tourism studies have recognized the important role of celebrity participation in the influence of travel destinations as tourism choices (Chen, 2017). All films play a key role in the holistic tourism experience and can have a positive impact on the destination and the community, if they are managed in a wise way.

 

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