Planning and Development in Film Tourism: Insights into the Experience of Lord of the Rings Film Guides

Abstract

This paper is part of a larger study into the expectations and experiences of guided Lord of the Rings film tourists during their visits to more than 80 locations/settings that were featured in the films, and here discusses the demands towards and developments of the supply side of the thriving Lord of the Rings film tourism industry in Aotearoa, New Zealand.

The challenges of guiding film tourists through their confrontation of anticipated fantastical landscape and geographical reality is discussed, leading to the identification of a typical film tour guide performance and its commonly used sign makers. This includes screen shots from selected film scenes as well as further printed materials and individual story telling depending on the guide's familiarity with the film and its making. Furthermore, the significance of emotions and especially emotional bonding with the guide(s) is identified as a considerable influence on the overall tour satisfaction. And while film tourists are varied, the experience of closeness and sincerity in the relationship with the guide seems often more important than “finding the exact spot”.

Introduction: The Reality of Fantastical Film Tourism

This paper will discuss the challenges and success strategies of specialised film tourism guides in a case study of Lord of the Rings tourism in Aotearoa, New Zealand. New Zealand is an excellent case study for the planning and development of film tourism due to its size and accessibility as well as history of film making. The country has produced feature films since 1914 (Hinemoa) and has been utilised by foreign film makers as a film production site for nearly the same length of time, starting in 1916 with A Maori Maid's Love and The Mutiny on the Bounty. Contemporary film tourism established itself with Jane Campion's The Piano in 1993 when domestic and international tourists noticeably began visiting the featured Karekare Beach. A few years later the Lord of the Rings films (2001, 2002, 2003) lifted film tourism to a new level, which now involves such diverse films as Whale Rider (2002), The Last Samurai (2004), The World's Fastest Indian (2005), King Kong (2005), The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe (2005) and River Queen (2006).

Today more than 35 tour operators and agents offer over 50 film-related tours in Aotearoa, New Zealand, in a variety of half day and multiple day tours visiting a single or a range of locations (see also Buchmann, 2006a). These tours utilise coaches, four-wheel drive vehicles, aircraft and even horses, and visit around 150 locations. It is interesting to note that most tour operators reacted to requests, e.g. by potential tourists or governmental institutions, and only then established Lord of the Rings tours. Only some were already fans who decided to “give it a go” as a tour operator. Most are small-sized businesses and some exclusively cater for the film tourism market. Of those, most had been surprised by the impact of the films and had not expected to become involved in consequent film tourism. Consequently, they were often overwhelmed by the sheer scope of the interest. Most operators made significant changes to their tours, including Rings Scenic Tours who changed their guiding script of the Hobbiton movie set to focus on the story of how the set was rescued from destruction.

As for the film tourists themselves, research shows that in particular Lord of the Rings film tourists want to experience both the “real” New Zealand and the more fantastical Middle-earth. Furthermore, they anticipate an authentic and sincere experience. Pre-tour images proved crucial for the formation of their expectations and included not only a New Zealand image of a green and clean country but also the Lord of the Rings films, the novel on which the films was based, and the “behind the scenes” documentaries.

The following sections will take a closer look at the challenges of film tourism and the expectations and experiences of Lord of the Rings tourists with their film guides after a short discussion of the study methodology.

Methodology

This qualitative study examined three fifteen-day nationwide tours (NW1, NW2 and NW3) and a further five half-day and two full-day Lord of the Rings tours that took place between 2004 and 2006. An integrated methods approach utilised interviews, observations, questionnaires and journals to examine the tourism experience, with a follow up including e-mailed questionnaires after the tour and insights into the tour company's evaluation sheets. Since each individual method has its own methodological weaknesses and strengths, the use of a mix of qualitative methods was considered important. Triangulation, where several different research methods are used “to test the same findings” (Babbie, 2001, p. 113), increases the reliability and validity of the research findings (Schloss and Smith, 1999). The analysis of the extensive data collected from film tourists as well as film guides and other stakeholders followed the grounded theory approach, an analysis in which theory is induced from the research data (Glaser and Strauss, 1967; Strauss and Corbin, 1990, 1998; Van Peursem, 1998). All interviews, questionnaires, observations, tour journals and field notes were transcribed as soon as possible after each event and distinguished in individual (I) and group interviews (GI), pre- and post-tour questionnaires (Q), e-mail questionnaires (eQ), tour journals (TJ), field notes (F) and observation (O). After an initial analysis the 232 transcripts were further examined with the support of the computer program QSR NVivo.

The Challenges of Film Tourism

Lord of the Rings film tourism includes such diverse attractions as remaining former film sets (for example, Hobbiton/Matamata); the landscapes where the filming was set (for example, Edoras/Mount Sunday and Mordor/Tongariro National Park) as well as film-related facilities like post-production buildings, film prop workshops, but also cinemas, eateries, and shops, mostly set in the greater Wellington region. The visits to the Lord of the Rings-related 80 locations/settings that were featured in more than 100 film scenes were guided by the tour leader and on some occasions by local tour guides. And while the study shows that these film tour guides perform in a way similar to other tourism guides (Cohen, 1985; Fine and Speer, 1985; Geva and Goldman, 1991; Holloway, 1981; Quiroga, 1990; Ap and Wong, 2001) they are dealing additionally with the more “spiritual” themes and demands made by participants (see also Buchmann, Moore and Fisher, 2010).

Furthermore, the study shows that guides in film—and especially Lord of the Rings—tourism face a variety of challenges. First of all, participants have varied expectations, based on themes such as scenery, adventure or the sense of community that were featured in the film(s). Thus the expectations of film tourists are most likely film-specific. Most, if not all film guides encounter (false) expectations about the existence of film sets (T.G., tour operator and guide, personal communication, 25.07.2006), given that most sets have been destroyed. Also, guides have to mediate the geographical reality with the film where distances and perspectives are distorted enormously. Overall, the trick technology used for Lord of the Rings further confuses any tourists looking for the “real” Middle-earth. Additionally, many locations are in remote places or on private land and thus difficult to access, and there is little signage. It is for these reasons that many participants chose guided tours even when possessing Brodie's guide book that features many Lord of the Rings locations: a tour experience is therefore composed of more than just factual information on the tour itself but is also influenced by the guide. So what do film tourists expect from their guides?

The Expectations of Film Tourists Towards their Guides

At the beginning of each guided Lord of the Rings tour participants were asked about their expectations regarding their tour experience. These expectations range from general tourist expectations (regarding, for example, the professionalism of the tour organisation and guide expertise), while also indicating a longing for fantastic Lord of the Rings elements. Most participants shared that they wanted “to see and feel parts of Middle-earth. To experience the people and culture of New Zealand” (Q 028 preNW1) while others sought a “once-in-a-lifetime experience travelling around the real Middle-earth” (Q 065 preNW2). In fact, many participants seemed eager to test the connection between imagination and geographical places by physically travelling to the film location(s): “what was once my own personal imagination based upon print became an attainable reality” (TJ 01 NW3). It should be noted that all surveyed film tourists perceive the New Zealand location(s) of the American-German produced Lord of the Rings films as a fair presentation of the Middle-earth described in the British novel. This might indicate a pre-selection because people who are unhappy with the choice of New Zealand as the films' setting will probably not have travelled to the country's locations.

Most film tourists arrive with pre-tour images imprinted on their mind. These pre-tour images proved crucial for the formation of their expectations and included not only a New Zealand image of a “green and clean” country but also the Lord of the Rings films, the novel on which the films were based and the “making of”s. Many film tourists had seen these behind-the-scenes documentaries either on television or on the DVDs and thus had been told about the technical and emotional process of the film making. They also heard many stories about the “authenticity” of the props and storylines and the extensive use of computer special effects. How does such extensive knowledge affect their expectations towards their guides?

The expectations towards film guides are varied, though as one participant put it: “seeing that this is specifically a Lord of the Rings tour, I would hope that they would know the area and be familiar with the film locations” (I 10054 NW1). It was an understandable expectation that the leader and guide(s) would be able to “point out the various places where filming took place” (Q 068 preNW2). Factual knowledge by the guide was important for this. As one participant remarked: “I don't know where these locations are myself, you appreciate it more when someone can point out to you that's where they filmed Edoras, or this is the exact spot where Arwen saved Frodo, things like that” (I 10054 NW1). This seemed at the core of many expectations: participants expect the guided tour to “be more informative…I'm absolutely fascinated by detail and for detail there's no way I can get that on my own” (I 10095). This statement also shows the high expectation towards the Lord of the Rings-related knowledge of the guide who should “know at least the same amount of information as the people who he's giving the tour to, if not more… They better watch the ‘extras’ on the DVD” (GI 10005 NW2 P4). Participants expected “lots of information regarding filming and locations” (Q 069 preNW2) and wanted a personal touch: “I think…it's good to get the human touch, like ‘I was there and this is what happened’ and then tell you about the different people and then, if they've got a real knowledge of it and a love of it, it makes it more interesting” (GI 10003 NW2 P2). And there was hope that “the tour guide will have some stories to tell about the films” (Q 026 preNW1), “maybe some gossip on the actors themselves” (I 10054 NW1) and “inside stories of happenings and funny incidents” (Q 063 preNW2).

Besides sharing this Lord of the Rings-related knowledge, further professional and personal skills were required, for example, “an in-depth knowledge of the books, the movies and some behind-the-scenes knowledge; an appreciation of same, and a willingness to share this with all tour members” (Q 025 preNW1). The guide should be “friendly and informative” (Q 027 preNW1), “professional, fun” (Q 076 preNW2), “happy, friendly, patient” (Q 038 preNW1), show “reliability, good ‘knowledge’ and approachability” (Q 028 preNW1) and “flexibility” (Q 029 preNW1). Some participants also mentioned that experience as a guide would be important (Q 075 preNW2). They hoped for “experience, maturity, courtesy, knowledgeable, well-prepared, professional appearance and presentation” (Q 034 preNW1) and want to be “taken care of” (Q 070 preNW2). At its extreme, a guide should have “an ability to make us [the participants] feel like we are having a unique experience” (Q 032 preNW1).

These statements show that the visit to the location itself is not enough: the tour guide ideally also mediates the more personal and emotional aspects of the experience. Thus the participants expected more than the professional and personal skills from their guide that are standard in the field of tourism (Cohen, 1985; Quiroga, 1990). Traditionally the role of guiding involves a number of subsidiary and sometimes conflicting sub-roles, of which the information-giving function is often emphasised by guides themselves. Guides are found to develop manipulative and dramaturgical skills to satisfy their passengers' quest for a unique touristic experience. The mediation of the guide as “culture broker” eases and may make more meaningful the contrived and artificial relationship between tourists and their hosts (Holloway, 1981). Ap and Wong (2001) argued that guides have the ability to transform tourists' visits from a tour into an experience through their knowledge and interpretation of a destination's attractions and culture, and their communication and service skills. This might explain why most tour operators place the responsibility for achieving participants' satisfaction is mostly delegated to the guide who is in a good position to customise the tour's quality to individual needs and preferences (Geva and Goldman 1991).

In summary, many Lord of the Rings film tourists have seen not only the films but also the behind-the-scenes documentaries either on television or on the DVDs and were aware of the technical and emotional process of the film making. They also heard many stories about the “authenticity” of the props and storylines and the extensive use of computer special effects. The film tourism experience must respond to these pre-tour images and expectations. Most film tourists want to experience both the “real” New Zealand and the more fantastical Middle-earth, and anticipate an authentic and sincere experience. Thus it can be concluded that the critical factors of the film product quality lies in both the tour content and guides.

The Experience of Film Tourism

New Zealand is often described as having beautiful and varied scenery, which participants promptly commented upon: “mysterious, I guess, and very beautiful. Overly stunning—just ridiculously stunning scenery that … every corner, every way you look, there's something amazing to look at. The hills and the mountains are crowned with these mists that seem to cling around the top that look very mysterious—like something out of a fairytale book” (I 10061 NW1). The descriptions clearly projected extraordinary and fantastic elements on New Zealand. It is not just the scenery but the merging of geography; image and imagination while present at location that creates these spiritual qualities. The participants wanted to immerse themselves in this mythical world and the New Zealand landscape provided the “screen” for this: “it's almost like we tune out reality and become engrossed in the magic. In some ways it's rather sad having to come back to the reality” (GI 10008 NW2 P3).

Clearly most participants wanted to encounter and experience the mythical Middle-earth but were also aware of the geographical reality of New Zealand. And yet many participants try to anchor Middle-earth in New Zealand: “To me, New Zealand is Middle-earth. I don't think it matters where you go or where you look, I can see things from the Lord of the Rings in most scenery, in most areas… I find it hard to see a difference like, townships aside yeah but to me, Middle-earth… And when we were going up with that [local company], [the local tour guide] turned around and we were going up and she said, ‘This is Middle-earth’ and I thought, ‘Yes, she's right’. This is New Zealand” (GI 10003 NW2 P4) and “I think they could almost rename New Zealand Middle-earth. It suits. It's just … to me it fits very much with what I'd imagined or visualised in my head when I read the books. A lot of it is very, very good” (I 10048 and 10050 NW1) and “it's just that it doesn't matter where you go, you can see Middle-earth” (GI 10003 NW2 P4).

For most film tourists it is exactly the connection between both scenery and film that makes the visit of a selected location so special: “It was fantastic…just coming over the hills and just seeing it there and…than getting out and a bit closer, and it was just so beautiful and isolated and…yeah. It was very cool … because it was so far from everything and once we're outside the bus you could easily pretend that you're in the middle of nowhere, that there was no civilisation anywhere that you really were on Middle-earth… I really like the untamed land and the isolatedness” (I 10055 NW1).

Overall, a dreamlike journey is supported where mythical elements and stories seem to merge flawlessly with the geographical reality of New Zealand: “It's just so untouched I guess. And a lot of it just conjures up little pockets of it, you could almost see soldiers from the different armies coming over the hills or down on the river. I mean, I found virtually the whole length of this river, right back to Queenstown, I wouldn't have been surprised to have seen the hobbit and everyone come around the corner in their little boat. It's just perfect really” (I 10048 and 10050 NW1) and “Everything looks familiar. There are places that are miles and miles from where the movie was shot where you can say ‘I know that.’ I can see Legolas and Gimli running right over this hill, and that's exactly like something I saw in the movie. Even if it wasn't filmed right there you can see it” (I 10058 NW1). These examples show that film tourists were both touring a geographical region and their imaginations at the same time. This poses unique challenges for the guides who have to seemingly effortlessly connect these two extremes, which is further complicated by the fact that not all film tourists are on the “same level” of knowledge.

Lessons Learnt by the Tour Operators and Guides

Most operators deal with a highly diverse clientele where some tourists have no, others some, and only a few a lot of interest in the featured film (M.G., tour operator and guide, personal communication, 16.12.2004; J.M., tour guide, personal communication, 28.01.1005). A tour guide typically uses laminated screen shots of selected film scenes to illustrate the location and in the case of Lord of the Rings tourism, Brodie's guide book. This habit shows that there are some common characteristics that have developed. The individual guide's knowledge is typically based on the film(s), the “making of”s that were included in the DVD releases, and sometimes their own experience of the making of the film. The film guides come from a variety of backgrounds and consequently their approach to guiding differs. Some of the guides worked on the films and occasionally welcome tourists, while others were full-time guides in other branches of tourism who take some film tours but do not specialise in film tourism. Also, some tours incorporate film-related attractions and involved people, for example, the person who was responsible for plant protection or illustrations during the filming. Overall, each guide creates an individual performance and to date there is no industry standard to specify what constitutes a film tour. In extreme cases, guides have not read the books, nor seen the movies, as one participant experienced on a tour with another company: “he had this guide to the locations [Brodie's guide book] and that was essentially the only contact he'd ever had with Tolkien” (I 10048 and 10050). This, however, clashes with the expectations most film tourists have of their guide that include knowledge of Lord of the Rings and New Zealand to various degrees and, additionally, a range of interpersonal skills.

This is further complicated by the fact that a surprising number of tourists can be emotionally touched by the sights in film tours—even though some locations barely resembled the scenes depicted in the films. Sites such as Edoras, the capital of Rohan in The Two Towers and The Return of the King, in the Canterbury high country scored hugely (see also Buchmann, 2006b), when a number of people said it touched them. They felt like they had seen the “Holy Grail” (compare GI 10008 NW2 P1). The study found that film tourists show a pilgrim-like character: both film tourists and pilgrims share the journey element towards a site and the meaningfulness of authentic and sincere relationships to the meta-text (in this case, the novel and the film) and also to the tour community and its leader and guides (compare Buchmann, Moore and Fisher, 2010). Indeed, it proved interesting to sample how the cast members recalled and communicated their memories of the filming and the country, with “adventure”, “fulfilment” and “friendships” being common themes (see, for example, the documentary by Pellerin, 2002). Again and again, the study shows the significance of emotions, embodiment and shared physical adventure in the overall experience. In fact, while film tourists hoped to experience the location physically, it was found that standing on the exact spot was at times less important than the general experience of journeying and sincerity. In other words, the experience of closeness and sincerity in the relationship with the guide is more important than “finding the exact spot”.

In summary, there are various “lessons” that were learnt by the Lord of the Rings tour operators and guides. Firstly, it could be clearly shown that tour guides can influence the film tourism experience considerably. However, ultimately the film tourism experience is co-constructed between participants and tour leader/ guides in an active negotiation of the encounter. This makes the experience an “authentic” one. Furthermore, due to the worldwide dissemination of information and the popularity of online communities, film tourists can have considerable knowledge. However, research shows that they do not question the guides as much as they demand more information. Lastly, tourists expect enthusiasm, passion and sincerity from their guides and show disappointment if they perceive a guide to be routine as it is important for them to experience a committed guide that is part of their interpretative community. Emotions can be more important than facts.

Conclusion: The Need for Authenticity in Planning Film Tourism

It seems Lord of the Rings-film tourists successfully experience both the “real” world of New Zealand and the “reel” world of Middle-earth. This is intriguing as any film tourism faces the challenges of a geographical reality of locations that differ from the fictional setting portrayed on the screen. Such discrepancies are due to the very nature of film making, including the characteristic distortion of time and space and, as well the scope and power of modern digital enhancements. And while there has been an early distinction between films that use New Zealand storylines and locations, and films that simply use New Zealand to portray another place, recent fantasy themed films including Willow, Lord of the Rings, and Narnia and television series like Hercules and Xena seem to suggest a somewhat mythical reading of New Zealand and its landscapes.

In fact, especially the fantastic Lord of the Rings films were claimed to have given New Zealand a high profile in key tourism markets and a report traced a considerable image improvement for New Zealand within the worldwide movie industry and found further support for the overall enhancement of the “brand New Zealand” (Yeabsley and Duncan, 2002). And while there was acknowledgement that the choice of New Zealand as the manifestation of the landscapes described by Tolkien was appropriate, the movies themselves showed a special effect-enhanced world. With this in mind, Lord of the Rings production designer Grant Major stated: “Well, you might recognise the Remarkables, but that'll be about it … everything else about the film will be Middle-earth” (Herrick, 2001). However, only two years later the phrase “New Zealand is Middle-earth” became a widely used slogan. These sentiments were seemingly shared by Tourism New Zealand which extensively used Lord of the Rings in their 100% pure campaign while Air New Zealand even labelled itself as the “Airline to Middle-earth” and even decorated four of its planes with Lord of the Rings décor. Consequently, an interesting debate regarding the extent of hyper-reality and authenticity in Lord of the Rings film tourism opens up where tourists might not be able to distinguish fake and reality any longer, where real geography and fantasy repeatedly merge (compare also Croy and Buchmann, 2009). It is telling that both actor and film character, too, are often merged into one person, and the same happens to geographical names. Even though correct New Zealand names, both Māori and/or Pakeha, are used continuously during the tour, these cannot always be remembered while the fictional names are: “Mount Doom (I forget its real name) looks wonderful” (TJ 16 NW1).

The challenges of future film tourism are many and reflect that the film tourism industry is a still very competitive environment characterised by increasing training and professionalism displayed by those involved. However, film tourism is potentially also threatened by stagnation, and the timing of publicity and the introduction of new attractions is vital to continue the rejuvenation. In doing so, tour operators can find themselves between the contradictory goals of policy and film makers. Above all, they must continue to research and understand their varied clientele: the holidaymakers themselves who are on a meaningful journey that they seek to see acknowledged.