News and Events

2005 Media Releases

DO FILMS REALLY ATTRACT TOURISTS?

Sue Beeton’s latest book poses the difficult question: Do films attract tourists to the place they portray?

Many tourism publicists believe the answer is yes but they may often be wrong!

In her latest book, Film-Induced Tourism, (Channel View Publications, 2005), Dr Beeton, a senior lecturer in Tourism at La Trobe University, questions whether people are attracted to a place because a film or television series made it well known.

In many instances, this is certainly true, particularly with some highly successful Australian and New Zealand films.

This book engages travellers, movie and television buffs, tourism professionals and students in a lucid investigation of the phenomenon of film-induced tourism.

Based on more than five years of research and a lifetime of travel and film immersion, Dr Beeton searches for the existence of a passion to travel to places touched by movies and television series.

From the Yorkshire Moors and Heartbeat to New York’s Sex in the City Tours, she tracks how some 35 television series have influenced tourism and the communities in which they are based. However, she does not ignore movies, with over 73 feature films.

She believes that The Man From Snowy River, Crocodile Dundee and Mad Max movies made in the 1980s definitely played a part in increasing tourism to Australia, particularly from North America. In addition, the two Man from Snowy River movies had an extremely beneficial effect on the adventure horse riding industry in Victoria’s High Country. Before the first movie, three such businesses operated. Ten years later that had increased to 30.

As well, the Lord of the Rings-inspired "Minister of the Rings" tourism promotion in New Zealand worked well, attracting many visitors to New Zealand. Other examples in more general terms are tourism amusement parks which depend on cinematic characters of which there are many examples in Australia, the USA and Europe.

However, Film-Induced Tourism, believed to be the first definitive work on the influence on tourism of movies and television series, is at pains to point out that the level of influence many films have is often questionable.

Dr Beeton’s perspective moves continually between that of an interested outsider, looking at community planning and development as well as the business aspects of film-induced tourism to an active participant.

She goes beyond providing formulaic responses to the business and planning areas by confronting the complexities of why people really want to visit places of filming.

Her research investigated people’s often only-hinted-at reasons for visiting film sites, posing the proposition that the current ‘Cult of Celebrity’ extends to the places themselves.

She attempts to peel back the layers of the imagination in film and tourism, particularly when looking at a fantasy such as The Lord of the Rings and animation including Lilo and Sitch and Finding Nemo.

The book delves into the disciplines of sociology and psychology, along with the fields of destination marketing, community development and strategic planning.

It raises the question as to whether films really 'induce' tourism or merely give people something else to think about while at a place.

For further information:

Please contact Dr Sue Beeton, Tel: 03 9479 3500, or La Trobe University Media and Publications Office, Tel: 03 9479 2316.