Film tourism impacts: a multi-stakeholder longitudinal approach

ABSTRACT

This study examines multiple local stakeholders’ perceptions of film tourism impacts to shed light on the complexities of film tourism planning and development, using a longitudinal exploratory research approach. The Japanese TV series Mare (2015) was chosen as the case study. Qualitative interviews with various local stakeholders were conducted over a 21-month-long period of a film tourism development project in Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan. The study found that this film tourism project was initiated with high expectations. However, due to several incidents, such as the controversial rebuilding of a local highway road for promotional purposes, the audience’s mixed reception of the series’ storyline, and a sexual harassment scandal involving one of the main actors, the film tourism development did not progress as planned. The study also revealed that consultation which included a diverse range of local stakeholders and long-term planning embedded into a larger regional development strategy were key factors for successful film tourism planning and development. We contribute that an investigation of local stakeholders’ consultation, diversity, inclusion and long-term embedding is reflected in perceptions across the pre-, during- and post-production stages. These four complexities provide valuable insights and even explanations for local’s dynamic perceptions of film tourism impacts.

KEYWORDS:

• Local community
• rural revitalisation
• daily TV series
• Japan
• celebrity scandals

Acknowledgment

The authors would like to sincerely thank the reviewers for their constructive, detailed feedback and comments during the review process.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Timo Thelen is Lecturer/Associate Professor at the School of International Studies, Kanazawa University. He has studied Japanology and Cultural Anthropology in Dusseldorf, Tokyo, Kanazawa, and Okinawa. His research interests include film tourism, popular media, and rural culture.

Sangkyun Kim is Associate Professor of Tourism at the School of Business and Law in Edith Cowan University. His work is international and interdisciplinary at the boundaries of social psychology, cultural studies, media studies, geography and tourism. He is on the editorial boards of international leading tourism journals such as Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing and Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research. He is an editor of Film Tourism in Asia: Evolution, Transformation and Trajectory (2018) and Food Tourism in Asia (2019). He is a Visiting Professor at the School of History, Culture and Communication, Erasmus University Rotterdam.

Elisabeth Scherer is a lecturer and research associate at Department of Modern Japanese Studies, Heinrich-Heine University of Düsseldorf. Her areas of research interest include popular culture, intermedia, rituals and gender studies. She is the editor of NHK's morning drama (asadora) in transition (special issue of East Asian Journal of Popular Culture, 2019).