By Dyana Carmella

While attending the AFCI Cineposium in the beautiful Wellington, New Zealand, I sat in on one particular seminar that really opened my eyes to how important locations are to tourism.  The seminar was called “Location Vacation: Film Induced Tourism.” It’s fascinating to see that families actually plan their vacations to visit the location where their favorite movie was filmed.

Film tourism is becoming a growing phenomenon in the traveling world. Simon Hudson, a Professor in Tourism and Marketing at the University of Calgary in Canada, mentioned that in order to get people to your location for film tourism, you need a clear link to the movie and the location, as well assome type of emotional attachment to the film. Film tourism is also a great reason to lobby government officials for tax credits. Like Hudson said, “ People want to see something,” and if a group of 17-year-old girls find out their favorite chick flick is filmed in Manahawkin, New Jersey, you better believe that they are going to spend their next winter break trekking cross-country to get a glimpse.

Hudson also mentioned that it’s a great way to promote your state or region and you should team up with tourism while still in the pre-production phase , then get them excited about having your location put on the Film Tourism Map. During the seminar, Anne Buchmann, a University Lecturer and Assistant Professor at the University of New Castle, Australia said, “Film Tourism could be another way to find the meaning of life.”

Still skeptical? Just look at what  Field of Dreams did for Dyersville, Iowa.

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This entry was posted on Monday, December 8th, 2008 at 6:14 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.