The Advance of Film Tourism

Understanding the development of tourism knowledge and research's contribution is an important process that enables us to see where we are, have been and are going. The articles in this special edition of Tourism and Hospitality Planning and Development come together to present a state-of-the-art outline of knowledge in the relatively recent field of film-induced tourism as well as furthering that knowledge.

In Tribe's commentary on the historic dominance of the business paradigm in tourism research, he notes that it is moving from “the narrow boundaries of an applied business field…[towards] a fledgling post-modern field of research” (Tribe, 2005, p. 5). The emerging field of film tourism research invites multi-disciplinary post-modern study, which has moved from simply considering business and marketing aspects towards approaches incorporating multiple disciplinary perspectives. In her paper in this edition, Angelina Karpovich frames this by examining the range of terms used to describe the various approaches to studying the relationship between film and tourism, arguing that such differences are primarily disciplinary based. This situation also reflects a lack of cross-disciplinary fertilization and collaboration—an issue I have also commented on elsewhere. One of the goals of this special edition is to bring together researchers from various disciplinary backgrounds under the banner of “planning and development” and facilitate a more inclusive understanding of what each discipline can bring to this field.

Early work into film-induced tourism from the tourism discipline primarily focused on the numbers of people visiting the places featured in movies, aiming to provide evidence of the significance of this new field of study. Riley, Tooke, Baker and van Doren are generally acknowledged as the first to publish in this field (Riley and van Doren, 1992; Riley, 1994; Tooke and Baker, 1996; Riley, Baker and van Doren, 1998), however some speculative work was already being undertaken by researchers in other disciplines. This included an interesting paper by Kindem (1979) discussing the difficulties of predicting a film's popularity through simply using factors such as economics, proposing that semiotics, ideology and psychology come into play. However, it has taken some time and a great deal of “grounding” work before Kindem's approach has been realized, but can be seen emerging from this special edition.

As the significance of the area of movie-induced tourism took hold, TV series also came under the spotlight by researchers from other countries such as the UK and Australia (Mordue, 1999, 2001; Beeton, 2000, 2001). This expanded field was coined as “film-induced tourism” to encompass television and cinema. However, the focus remained primarily on business-related issues, including destination marketing, image and tourist motivation as briefly outlined below.

Marketing and Imaging

Popular media has been well documented as a form of image development and tourism marketing, from art through to literature, and now film. As early as 1989, Crofts related the success of the Australian movie, Crocodile Dundee as the first movie to be used to consciously and simultaneously develop tourism to Australia (Crofts, 1989). However, it is arguable as to whether this would have been done if the star, Paul Hogan, was not already known in the USA through current Australian tourism advertisements. In another relatively early comment on the power (and ambiguity) of film, Butler (1990) warned against the issues of the actual place versus the imagined created through film, pointing out that many films are often not shot at the locations they represent in the story. This notion of authenticity in film has been noted by many other scholars including Hall (1998), alongside the evident promotional power of film.

Glen Croy's article in this edition argues that the reported high level of impact that film has on tourist visitation is not always the case. Consequently, he argues for the need for an image-based strategy that can positively influence as well as sustain the potential benefits of film for tourism. Using the New Zealand movie trilogy, The Lord of the Rings as a case in point, Croy considers a range of aspects relating to tourism planning. This includes aligning with the cinematic and tourist image of a destination, which supports the emerging understanding that increased visitor numbers is not the only measure of “success” in film tourism; rather enhanced awareness of and familiarity with a destination should be viewed as indicators of success.

Motivation

While the early studies of film-induced tourism focused primarily on the more superficial, passive viewing of a scene when discussing the motivation of visitors to a film site, this moved into more complex discussions regarding “private” and personal motivations. While Riley and Van Doren (1992) considered movies as a “pull” factor in tourist motivation, Macionis (2004) took this concept further, arguing that “[Crompton's] push and pull framework provides a simple and intuitive approach for explaining the motivations underlying film tourist behaviour” (p. 89). Beeton (2005) suggested that motivation was more complex, arguing that visitors were coming to film sites to re-live an experience (or even emotion) encountered in the film, reinforce myth, storytelling or fantasies, or for reasons of status (or celebrity).

Impacts and Management

Following closely on the marketing-focused business studies are concerns regarding the impacts of increased tourism, particularly in relation to the host communities where TV series and movies are set and/or filmed. The increasing numbers of visitors raised management issues for the host communities. Mordue (1999, 2001) looked at the early impact of the UK TV series, Heartbeat on the small village in which much of it is filmed, finding that many residents were adversely affected by the increased numbers to and high exposure of this small village. Beeton (2004a, 2005) built on Mordue's work at Goathland and also looked at Barwon Heads in Australia, exploring resident attitudes and physical changes to the towns to facilitate the film tourists. Beeton and Mordue continue to observe effects at Goathland, contributing to a longitudinal study of a community living with “fame”.

Sine Heitmann's article reviews and presents the film tourism literature from a stakeholder perspective in relation to sustainability in planning and development. She identifies a gap in film tourism planning research where, not unlike Croy's argument about the perils of focusing simply on visitor numbers, she argues there has been little examination of how film tourism can (or should) be planned. By identifying and articulating the range of stakeholders engaged with film and tourism, Heitmann also calls for more cross-disciplinary research from areas such as geography, sociology, cultural studies and film studies.

Echoing Heitmann's comments, various researchers acknowledge that the popular mass media of the day (that is, film) constructs a social reality of our times, resulting in multiple views (perspectives or interpretations) of the same event or experience (Saurrette, 1992; Beeton et al., 2005). This indicates a shift towards recognizing the multiple perspectives of film-induced tourism by incorporating other disciplinary modes apart from business marketing and management.

Once one moves beyond the business of film-induced tourism, post-modern epistemologies of inversion, authenticity, simulacra and play come into the equation, blurring the simplistic notions of film promoting tourism to places. Other disciplines not only illuminate the study of film-induced tourism, but are also examining the phenomenon from their perspectives. Film studies taking an anthropological perspective are considering the relationship between travelogues and tourism, as demonstrated in the publication, Virtual Voyages: Cinema and Travel (Ruoff, 2006). This is an excellent publication that admirably provides a “bridge” between travelogues and tourism—what one may see as an obvious link, but until now rarely explored. Work by those from a sociological perspective such as Couldry (1998) and Torchin (2003) are also adding multiple perspectives (and voices) to the field. Torchin considered the film-induced tours of New York-based operator, Manhattan TV Tours, while Couldry (1998) studied the experience of visitors to the set of the UK TV series, Coronation Street, pre-empting a more experiential analytical approach to film-induced tourism. Through their sociological perspectives, Couldry and Torchin articulated some of the notions that Beeton was considering in terms of the complexities of film-induced tourism (Beeton, 2004b, 2005, 2006).

Ariane Portegies' article in this journal considers the representation and construction of “place” in and by film, uncovering some ambiguity coming from the multiple perspectives of film viewers. Sitting well with, yet expanding on, Croy's notions of “image”, the paradigm informing this article comes from a discipline other than “tourism”, supporting the calls throughout this special edition for incorporation of multiple disciplines and perspectives into the study of film and tourism. Understanding how audiences read the signs in film to create their various images of a place is central to our understanding of their expectations if and when they visit.

To date we have been discussing the concept of multiple perspectives from a disciplinary approach within a western paradigm, with little consideration of cultural perspectives. So, is film tourism relevant in other cultures? There is an increasing body of knowledge coming out of Asia that suggests it may be even more significant in those cultures. Consequently, “TV series-induced tourism is a type of new cultural tourism that has great potential to advance cultural exchange and understanding” (Kim et al., 2007, p. 1351). Sangkyun Kim's article for this special edition is a timely reminder of the importance of other cultures and paradigms. He considers the enormous appeal of Korean culture as personified by the series, Winter Sonata, to Asian visitors. This article is part of the “Hallyu” or Korean Wave (encompassing all aspects of Korean popular culture), focusing here on the activities of visitors to the film sites in Korea, noting the high level of re-enacting and re-constructing images from the TV series.

Other commentators such as Hirschman (2000) consider the popularity and subsequent influence of film in terms of myth-telling, stating that “the mythic impulse has always enthralled the human imagination” (p. 4). This notion of myth, film and tourism is being studied in relation to The Lord of the Rings movies by numerous scholars, including Anne Buchmann (2006). Her article presented in this special edition examines the role that the tour guide plays in relation to film tourists' experience and satisfaction. Her findings indicate that positive emotional bonding with the guide is a significant element of tour satisfaction and appears to be more important to these tourists than being in the exact filming location. This supports Torchin's statement in relation to Manhattan TV Tours that tour guides “animate local multiple locations in single sites: historical New York, New York's lived reality, the production history, and the fictive worlds” (Torchin, 2003, p. 259). Furthermore, forthcoming literature argues that the concept of attachment to the emotion engendered in a movie or TV series is more important than simply visiting a site/sight.

Based on the articles presented in this journal and the development of research into film tourism outlined in this article, the model in Figure 1 demonstrates the way that film-induced tourism inquiry and knowledge development has progressed from speculation to what I have termed “higher level” multi-disciplinary inquiry.

Figure 1. Model of film-induced tourism knowledge development

The pyramid structure of the model is not intended to preclude the earlier studies as, while it is important to introduce new research concepts, many earlier theories retain their relevance and application. Often, the later (“higher level”) studies further inform the earlier work, providing further development in fields such as business-related research.

The model enables us to see where we have gone, where we are going and where we still need to go in terms of knowledge development, both theoretical and practical. A primary goal of academic research should be theoretical development—academia is the place where the difficult questions need to be asked and concepts developed. Industry-based researchers can then take that theory and apply it to their “real-life” concerns, and students are better able to conceptualize the links between theory and practice. There has always been a friction between “pure” academic research and applied, “relevant” research; however, without theoretical development, so-called “real life” research cannot be undertaken. Thus, the nexus between theory development and practical application is very strong indeed.

Conclusion

As the level of inquiry develops and a body of knowledge begins to take shape, tourism researchers look beyond their own disciplines to inform their work, as in this special edition. However, as noted, often these disciplines fail to engage with the tourism literature, often neglecting a relevant body of literature and reducing the salience of their contribution to knowledge.

By understanding where our knowledge has come from, how it is structured and where it is going, this study enables us to develop a body of knowledge and to look forward to the future rather than taking a backwards-looking perspective by simply repeating what is already known. Bringing together the various strands of disciplinary thought from a range of academics that make up this special edition on film tourism has been extremely rewarding, and reassures me that we are well served in our endeavours with scholars from a range of disciplines and cultural backgrounds.