The Economic Impact of the UK Film Industry - BFI - British Film ...

7. Tourism
7.1. Introduction
Economic Contribution of the UK Film Industry
July 2007
The phenomenon of films encouraging viewers to visit the country or site where they were shot - variously
labeled ‘movie-induced tourism’ (Riley et al. 1998), ‘film-induced tourism’ (Beeton, 2005), and ‘mediarelated
tourism’ (Busby and Klug, 2001) – has been widely discussed in academic literature and is now
well-documented. For example:
“Just as paintings whetted the appetite of tourists in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries to visit
particular places, so film has become the modern-day equivalent for the tourist 23 .”
Many tourism authorities across the world are also aware of the role of film as a catalyst for tourism and
have strategies that both actively encourage the shooting of films in their country or city as well as the
promotion of tourism following the release of such films. A good example is Illinois, which enticed the film
A Thousand Acres to be shot there despite other locations better meeting the film’s requirement for “fields
of corn as far as the eye could see”. The Illinois Tourism Board achieved this by suggesting that hybrid
varieties of corn could be planted to simulate an entire growing season in just 6 weeks. Similarly, ‘Movie
Maps’ are being increasingly distributed by tourism authorities to make it easy for tourists to find the
locations of scenes shot in famous films, such as James Bond and Harry Potter. The recognition of the
importance of film to tourism is further underlined by the recent US advertising campaign which sought to
encourage UK visitors with the slogan: “You’ve seen the movies, now see the set”. And tourist operators
also recognize the role of film in attracting visitors, with, for example. Both Paris's Le Meurice and
Edinburgh's The Balmoral hotels now offering Da Vinci Code packages.
This chapter focuses on the ways in which film plays a part in the choice of places people visit, and
considers the likely scale of the impact in the UK.
Key Points
• The impact of film on tourism is well-documented through a number of case studies and is
recognised in the marketing campaigns of tourist boards around the world.
• While there is limited robust statistical data quantifying the value of this impact, the available
evidence suggests around 1 in 10 visits to the UK may be attributed to the impact of UK films.
• On this basis we estimate that around £1.8 billion of visitor spend a year might be attributable to
UK films.
• In 2006, this additional spending is estimated to be worth £900 million to UK GDP and
£200 million to the Exchequer.
23 Source: Bolan cited in Bushe, A Projecting a Cinematic Boost for Tourism, The Newsletter, 13th June 2005, p.4
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