Movie-induced tourism: The challenge of measurement and other issues

Abstract

Within the literature on tourism marketing and place promotion, there is very little research related to movie sites, including television programme locations, in Britain. This study discusses the concept of movie-induced tourism in relation to the wider phenomenon of cultural and literary tourism. The challenge of measurement is considered via a small-scale survey of visitors to Notting Hill in London, the setting for the successful movie starring Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts. The results showed a visitor profile which is fairly consistent with the findings from the literature; frequency results indicated that many visitors to Notting Hill had a fairly clear destination image prior to their visit, a large number of respondents knew of other television and film locations and a majority of respondents would consider travelling to television or film locations in the future. About two-thirds of respondents agreed with the fact that television programmes and films encourage tourism to a certain area, which shows an overall awareness and acceptance of the phenomenon of movie-induced tourism within the survey population.