ESCUELAUNIVERSITARIA

DE TURISMO DEMURCIA

DISSERTATION

FILM INDUCED TOURISMTelevision Series

JORDEN HELLEMANS

TUTOR: PABLO ROS PEREZLÍNEA DEL TFG: TURISMO Y CINE DE PAÍSES DE HABLA INGLESA

DEPARTAMENTO: LENGUAS, INGLÉS

CURSO ACADÉMICO 2013 / 2014CONVOCATORIA DE JUNIO

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ABSTRACT

This paper demonstrates the relation between the ability of television series as a promotional tool

and the popularity of tourist destinations. Not only will the phenomenon of film-induced tourism

will be explained, which is a widely growing aspect within the tourism industry, but also the

profile of the film tourist will be outlined. A practical case study examines the impact of three

immense popular television series on their filming locations, based on data collected from

official tourist boards, companies who offer services or products related to a television series and

local accommodation companies.

Keywords: tourism, film-induced tourism, television series, filming locations, economic impact

RESUMEN

En este trabajo se demuestra la relación entre la capacidad de las series de televisión como

herramienta de promoción y la popularidad de los destinos turísticos. No sólo se explicará el

fenómeno del turismo inducido por el cine, que es un aspecto en constante crecimiento dentro de

la industria del turismo, sino también el perfil del turista cinematográfico. Un estudio práctico

examina el impacto de tres series de televisión extremadamente populares sobre sus lugares de

rodaje, basadose en datos obtenidos de las oficinas de turismo oficiales, las empresas que ofrecen

servicios o productos relacionados con una serie de televisión y las empresas de alojamiento

local.

Palabras clave: turismo, turismo inducido por el cine, serie de televisión, lugares de rodaje,

impacto económico

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. INTRODUCTION 5

2. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK 7

2.1 History of Cinema 7

2.2 History of Television 8

2.3 History of Television Programs 9

2.4 Psychoanalysis 10

2.5 History of Virtual Trips 12

2.6 An Approach to Film-Induced Tourism 14

2.6.1 Differences between cinema and television 14

2.6.2 Describing and Defining Film-Induced Tourism 14

2.7 Form of Filmed-Induced Tourism 16

2.8 Destination Marketing Through Film and TV series 19

2.9 Profile Film Tourist 20

2.10 Motivation Film Tourist 21

2.11 Economic Impacts of Film-Induced Tourism 23

3. EMPIRICAL PART 26

3.1 Introduction to Research 26

3.2 Research Methodology 27

3.3 Case Study 1: Game of Thrones 28

3.3.1 Northern Ireland & Belfast 28

3.3.2 Filming Locations 29

3.3.3 Game of Thrones Inspired Products and Services 32

3.3.4 Game of Thrones Inspired Promotion Campaign 34

3.3.5 Game of Thrones’ Economic Impact 35

3.3.6 Results Data Collection 37

3.4 Case Study 2: Downton Abbey 42

3.4.1 Oxfordshire & Highclere 42

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3.4.2 Filming Locations 44

3.4.3 Downton Abbey Inspired Products and Services 45

3.4.4 Downton Abbey Inspired Promotion Campaign 47

3.4.5 Downton Abbey’s Economic Impact 47

3.4.6 Results Data Collection 50

3.5 Case Study 3: Breaking Bad 54

3.5.1 Albuquerque, New Mexico 55

3.5.2 Filming Locations 56

3.5.3 Breaking Bad Inspired Products and Services 56

3.5.4 Breaking Bad Inspired Promotion Campaign 58

3.5.5 Breaking Bad’s Economic Impact 59

3.5.6 Results Data Collection 60

4. CONCLUSION 65

5. BIBLIOGRAPHY 67

6. APPENDICES 74

6.1 Appendix 1: survey directed to official tourist boards 74

6.2 Appendix 2: survey directed to companies who offer 78

TV series related services or products

6.3 Appendix 3: survey directed to accommodation companies 83

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1. INTRODUCTION

Before proceeding to the core of this investigation, it is essential to understand and define all

involved components. Let us start with the concept of tourism. The World Tourism Organization

UNWTO (2005/2007) describes it as followed:

Tourism is a social, cultural and economic phenomenon which entails the movement ofpeople to countries or places outside their usual environment for personal orbusiness/professional purposes. These people are called visitors and tourism has to dowith their activities, some of which imply tourism expenditure.

As tourism has an impact on various areas, such as economy, environment, local population and

on the tourists themselves, a holistic approach, where all parts are interconnected, seems the

most appropriate.

The effects film and television series have on the human behaviour have been discussed for ages,

especially if we think about violent films/television shows and their consequences on society.

Slocum (2000) notes that many social scientists assume that the film industry serves as an agent

of social control and change. Taking into account the fact that the average American spends

more than 34 hours a week watching live television (Hinckley, 2012), we cannot ignore that

television influences our lives and thus also interferes when it comes to picking out our next

holiday destination.

Tourism and watching TV are two big players in our world of leisure, which are combined

perfectly in film-induced tourism. “The term ‘film-induced tourism’ relates to on-location

tourism that follows the success of a film or television series made in a particular region”

(Beeton, 2005, p.9). Roesch (2009, p.6) defines film tourism as “(…) a specific pattern of

tourism that drives visitors to see screened places during or after the production of a feature film

or a television production”. This relatively new form of tourism still receives little attention

although the number of tourists visiting destinations driven by films/television series is

increasing rapidly. As the tourism industry is very competitive and on top of that it has reached a

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stage of maturity, film-induced tourism can be a way out of this maturity and at the same time a

way to differentiate from other destinations.

The difference between films and television series lies in the length of the screening and filming

period, which is obviously longer for series. This creates a stronger relationship between the

viewer and the series’ characters and setting, which keeps the series longer in the people’s mind

with a result of long-term impacts. In general films don’t manage to have such a long-term

impact, unless it is an enormously popular one. Besides according to an analysis conducted by

the Hollywood and media business news site The Wrap, founded by the author and journalist for

The Washington Post and The New York Times Sharon Waxman, the profits generated by

television shows are much higher than the ones generated by films. Time Warner, the world’s

second largest media and entertainment conglomerate, states that their small-screen divisions are

responsible for about 80 percent of its profits. Although they produced big film hits like ‘The

Dark Knight’ and ‘Harry Potter’, their television shows like ‘The Big Bang Theory’ and ‘Two

and Half Men’ earn countless millions more (The Wrap, 2012).

Table 1 - Media and entertainment conglomerates’ profitsFilms TV

Viacom $341 M $3.85 B

Disney $618 M $6.15 B

Time Warner $600 M $5.05 B

News Corp $927 M $3.67 B

NBCU $ 27 M $3.318 B

Total $2.513 B $22.0 BFuente: The Wrap, 2011

This paper aims to clarify the relationship between television series and tourism. The impact of

recent successful television series on their filming locations will be discussed based on an

investigation that has been done through, amongst others, taking surveys of the involved parties.

Other objectives of this paper are: identifying the benefits for the filming locations, explaining

what makes people visit a destination that appeared in television series and understanding how

tourism promotion occurs through these series.

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2. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

2.1 History of Cinema

The story of the motion picture industry begins in the late 19th century, when the American

inventor Thomas Edison (1847-1931) created a machine called the Kinetoscope. With this device

people could watch short films through a peephole viewer window at the top of this wooden box.

The big disadvantage of the Kinetoscope was of course the fact that the moving pictures could

only be seen by one person at the time. Inspired by Edison’s invention, the Lumière brothers,

whose family business manufactured photographic equipment, came up with an improved

version of the Kinetoscope, which they called the Cinématographe. This device was both a

camera and a projector, which allowed projection of films onto a screen whereby several people

could watch a film together.

On December 28, 1895, the Lumière brothers projected films for the first time for a paying

audience at the Grande Café on the Boulevard des Capucines in Paris. That magical day is

considered by many historians as the birthday of cinema.

The challenge of the first filmmakers was to capture images that might interest people. Scenes of

everyday life, news subjects, travelogues, recorded theater performances were the earliest topics.

Soon after that comic narratives and dramatic stories were projected on the silver screen. By

1910 especially designed theaters for the projection of films had already been created.

In the early years the film distribution was quite primitive and only made possible through fairs,

but that was about to change when the Pathé brothers came up with a model for film distribution

by sending representatives to sell equipment and films. However the First World War made the

Pathé brothers lose their advantage and Hollywood began to take over the world market.

Finally when the stage of innovation could be left behind, the next challenge was to convince the

rest of the world to adopt it. More than ten years it took cinema to become a mass leisure time

activity and convince the world of its art form. Now films could begin to become an industry of

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influential, profitable enterprises and set the stage for a social, economic, and cultural change,

which would alter the world substantially.

2.2 History of Television

The word television comes from the Greek prefix tele and the Latin word vision or ‘seeing from

a distance’. In its early years television used a combination of optical, mechanical and electronic

technologies to capture, transmit and display a visual image. The big breakthrough in technology

was the ability to send sound and pictures over the air.

The invention of television did not depend on just one person, but of the contribution on various

individuals who started to experiment along the 19th century. Later on, in 1925, John Logie

Baird, a Scottish inventor, succeeded in transmitting moving silhouette images. This milestone

is, in general, considered as the world’s first true demonstration of television. In 1927, Baird also

showed the first video recording system and colour television to the world. A broadcast in colour

can be created by broadcasting three monochrome images: one in red, one in green and one in

blue (RGB). When they are shown together, these images will blend together to produce a full

colour image. Due to its high cost it was not until the mid-1960s that colour TV’s started selling

in large numbers and in 1972 sales finally surpassed the ones of black-and-white TV’s. One of

the most famous TV transmissions of history must be the one of Neil Armstrong when walking

on the moon’s surface in 1969.

Nowadays a living room without a TV is almost unthinkable, it has become a natural part of our

environment. Television has turned into the most influential mass media communication,

evolved into our primary source of news, weather and entertainment and made the world of

advertising boom like no other medium had ever achieved.

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2.3 History of Television Programs

Before the rise of television, it was the radio which was present in the living rooms of many

families, providing them with the latest news but also with entertainment, such as music and

children programs, quizzes, sports and short stories, which can be classified in different genres:

comedy, thriller, drama and soap opera. One of the best examples in the history of radio plays

must be Orson Welles’ ‘War of the Worlds’. The story was set in the present of that time (1938)

and took place in New Jersey. During the radio play the Mercury Theatre used the sound of the

radio news bulletins, which gave the story a real touch. A growing number of people tuned over

to the CBS radio station to discover all about the things that were happening on Mars and later

on about the invasion of the Martians on our planet Earth. The fictional story felt so real that a

certain number of people believed it was true and panicked. No wonder that radio is sometimes

called ‘the theatre of the mind’. Later on, Orson Welles went on to Hollywood to make his first

film, Citizen Kane, which still can be considered as one of the best films ever made.

Television borrowed many things from radio, not only regarding the content, but also the

structure of the industry. In many countries, radio and later TV were controlled by the

government and the funding came from taxes. Both industries were and are also driven by

revenues from advertising which implies the paramount importance of measuring the size of the

audience. Radio had provided sports, news, drama, mystery, comedy, detective shows, quiz

shows, reality programs, music, soap operas, and so on. Television borrowed all of these

concepts and added very few new ones, offering very little that was new or different to its

audience in the early years.

Television shows have evolved through the years from comedies to reality. In the 1950s family

comedies were extremely popular and as having a TV was a luxury thing, watching TV was

something special, where the family feeling was at the heart of experience. In the TV shows of

that time we can see how this family aspect is reflected, e.g., the father figure would come home

to his loving wife, who cleans the house, takes care of the children, prepares food and so on. TV

series were like good news shows, and if there was a conflict between a couple obviously they

would resolve their problem and another happy ending had arrived. Not only happiness was

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transmitted through these TV shows also lessons were learned, where each story would have a

moral. In the early years of television the amount of commercials was still insignificant.

Nowadays reality TV shows are popular, because people like looking at others who are just like

them, not perfect. Reality TV is also easy and cheap to make, because it lacks a professional cast

of actors. It is just people of the street who act crazy and in many case don’t have any sense of

decency. Back in the 50’s you would have been looked down upon for presenting yourself in

such a way.

Over time the family aspect started to change as well. Women normally were portrayed as the

glamourous girl, or as the stay at home wife. The man usually was the boss and went to work.

Now there are all types of scenarios. And the children are shown just as disfunctional as the

adults, or sometimes even worse. Television shows today that different relationships are possible

and that marriage is far from perfect. The happy family with the happy ending has come to an

end.

Today’s TV series have a much more complex storyline than they used to have, which implies a

longer story length. The fact that TV series are longer now, may benefit the world of

commercialism. These days people are overwhelmed with so many commercial breaks, that more

and more viewers choose for a provider of on-demand internet streaming media, like Netflix, to

watch their favourite show.

2.4 Psychoanalysis

In 1931 the American film industry was already being called a ‘dream factory’ (Ehrenburg,

1931), due to the strong similarity between film images and dreams. The Swiss psychiatrist, Carl

Jung (1875-1961), states that the way we understand our relation to the world is largely

conscious, but at the same time there is a part of our psyche, which is unconscious and which we

cannot just put aside. One of the clearest ways these unconscious elements show themselves is

through dreams. As films are like dreams and those dreams are a manifestation of our

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unconscious, we cannot ignore the relationship between film and the unconscious. “Cinema

remixes the real, the unreal, the present, real life, memory, and dream on the same shared

mental level” (Morin, n.d. cited in Diken and Lausten, 2007, p.8).

The link between film and the unconscious is not a new perception. Film as the inner working of

the psyche had been discussed by earlier theorists in the 1920s and 1930s, but it was not until the

1970s that full attention was given to the effect of film on the viewers. For Morin, cinema

parallels the human psyche:

We all have a little cinema in our head. The imaginary capacity of cinema, its productionof images, is paralleled by the imaginary potential of the human mind. Cinema makesparticipation in other’s lives and identification with them possible; thus through a film aconservative housewife might feel empathy for the prostitute.

In other words, cinema tries to integrate the flow of the film into the psyche of the audience. But

it must be said that this relationship also goes up the other way around. The moving images

filmmakers create and display to the audience, are also a result of what lives in one’s psyche.

According to Diken and Lausten (2007) “it is possible to say that it is not cinema which serves as

a royal route to the understanding of the mind but inversely it is the mind, or rather the

unconscious, that manifests itself in reality”.

Jaques Lacan (1901-1981) was a French psychoanalyst who made his first official contribution

to psychoanalysis with the ‘mirror stage’ concept. The mirror stage is based on the belief that

infants go through a stage in which an external image of the body, for example reflected in a

mirror or by mother or father, produces a psychic response that gives birth to the mental, and

thus imaginary, representation of an ‘I’. Later on, based on the imaginary ego, one’s unique

personality will develop. Lacan’s work had also its influence within the study of cinema, because

according to psychoanalysts there are similarities between the infant’s physical condition during

the mirror stage and an adult watching a film. This comparison introduced the analysis between

the working of the mind and cinema. Although film is not a mirror it seems that it gives the

viewers a similar feeling of joy as seeing their reflection during the mirror stage. Now how do

films create a repetition of this feeling? According to the Lacan followers, the viewer’s first

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identification is not with the characters of the film, but with the point of view of the camera and

gives them the illusion that they create the images appearing before their eyes.

To summarize, the viewers find themselves between dream and reality, which shows some

similarities with the sensations that come to tourists. While on holiday it is in many cases an

escape from daily routine and a stressful job. People are living in a state of temporary joy, while

contemplating surroundings that are usually breathtaking or just very different from what they

are used to, which stimulates their senses and takes them to another ‘world’, forgetting about all

their worries. The tourists’ views about the services provided during the holiday can be seen as

the reality part of the trip/dream. Now for the audience, watching film make them disconnect

their minds from the world around them to enter a surreal one where reality’s unpleasant sides

are temporarily forgotten, but where, like in a dream, desires and frustrations, coming from the

psyche, can come to the surface through the exposure of the images.

As Conrady and Buck (2009, p.156) state “Cinema becomes real to such an extent that viewers

gain the opportunity to enter parts of the precious imaginary. In this way, film viewing itself may

be understood as a form of tourism (…)”.

2.5 History of Virtual Trips

In a world already saturated with representations of travel, travelogue films arose as the newest

and most modern form of travel media. A few years after the rise of cinema, in the mid-1890s, a

large number of places on almost every continent had been filmed. Travelogues showed cities,

regions, nation-states, continents and even hemispheres. In New York, late 1912, the people

could watch the two-hour film ‘Atop of the World in Motion’, directed by Beverly B. Dobbs,

about life in Alaska and Siberia at the Weber’s New York Theatre on Broadway. This film was

used to promote polar exploration, while several polar expeditions were already under way.

Other examples of that period’s film travelogues, were: ‘Life and People South of the Equator’

(Great Northern, 1911), ‘Pekin, the Walled City’ (Eclipse, 1910), ‘In Old England’ (Kalem,

1914), ‘Curious Scenes in India’ (Edison, 1913), ‘Strange Places and Quaint People in New

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York’ (Kalem, 1912), ‘Arabian Customs’ (Gaumont, 1911) and so on. Many of these film

travelogues focused on people and their customs, natural landscapes (rivers, mountains, caves,

waterfalls), but also on a country’s or region’s industry, for example ‘Making Bamboo Hats in

Java’ (Eclipse, 1911). We can say that Travelogue films updated older forms of representations

such as photographs. It was all about capturing and documenting the entire globe, almost like

map making and it were especially the countries considered as the colonial powers who were

interested in travelogues, to keep them informed about their efforts in their colonies. But at the

same time these travelogues were commercial films and therefore they were not committed in

businesses of state control.

In general early cinema was criticized as a form of cheap amusement, but travelogues, which had

an educational character, were seen as something ‘high-class’. Richard Altick (1915-2008) an

American literary scholar, demonstrated the link between education and pleasure in travelogues

and refers to it as a ‘rational amusement’. Even today’s IMAX films (films recorded on a far

higher resolution and displayed on a far bigger screen than conventional film systems) are

educational and have travelogue characteristics, with titles such as ‘Rocky Mountain Express’

(2011), ‘The Last Reef: Cities Beneath the Sea’ (2012), ‘To the Artic 3D’ (2012), and so on.

As a consequence of the simultaneous emergence of the film industry and the different modes of

transportation (steamship, train, automobile) all elements were present for a successful takeoff of

the tourism industry, were (travelogue) film was/is an important stimulus. We can say that

tourism and cinema go historically hand in hand.

Table 2 - History of Tourism & Cinema

Source: Film-Induced Tourism by Rafael Basáñez (2011, p.25)

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“Travelogues have the power to send the viewer into a daydreaming state of mind” (Peterson,

2013).

2.6 An Approach to Film-Induced Tourism

2.6.1 Differences between cinema and television

Cinema and television show some differences in their method of representation, which can be

summarised in two main points. First of all, cinema offers a film as a public event, while

television series are watched in a private, casual atmosphere. Second, the film storyline is

developed, in general terms, around a specific problem that has to be resolved at the end of the

film, when in television series an open-end is preferred because of the interconnection between

the different episodes. Hereby the viewer has more time to develop empathy with the characters.

The different episodes, of which a television series consits, imply obviously a longer screening

period than for films, which again, creates a stronger relationship between the viewer and the

characters. The social network ‘Facebook’ shows us clear examples of how this

empathy/sympathy that grows between the viewer and television series characters is expressed. It

is remarkable how many fan pages and even personal profiles are dedicated to each character of

the immense popular TV series ‘Game of Thrones’.

2.6.2 Describing and Defining Film-Induced Tourism

We may travel in reality or in our thoughts and dreams, through books and, of course,through films, which lead us to the ends of the earth and beyond. For more than 100years, it is film, more than any other medium, which has taken us on journeys (…) thecreative and consistent link between the fields of film and tourism is, above all, anexciting, surprising and promising path, on which will have immense benefits for visitorsand investors in the future (Roesch, 2009, p.11).

If one wants to refer to tourism which arises or grows due to films or TV series several terms can

be used: ‘film tourism’, ‘film-induced tourism’, ‘media-induced tourism’, ‘movie-induced

tourism’, or ‘cinematographic tourism’. Which one is used varies from author to author, but the

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phenomenon they refer to is the same. Riley and van Doren (1998, in Kezban Anul, 2013, p.4),

who can be seen as pioneer authors in this matter, describe film-induced tourism as follows:

Through films, people are sometimes induced to visit what they have seen on the silverscreen. If this gaze is directed at objects of features which are extraordinary and thusdistinguish the ‘site/sight’ of the gaze from others, then the properties of a film location –whether scenic, historical, or literary – qualify as icons for tourists to gaze upon. That is,in the sense that people are seeking sights/sites seen on the silver screen, they becomefilm-induced tourists.

Busby and Klug (2001, in Vagionis & Loumioti, 2011) refer to this phenomenon as

cinematographic tourism. According to the authors cinematographic tourism happens if

somebody visits a destination because this person has seen it in a film, video or television.

Hudson and Ritchie (2006) called it film-tourism and define it as tourist visits to a destination or

attraction as a result of the destination being featured on television, video or cinema screen.

Beeton (2005) uses film-induced tourism as a term for the phenomenon and defines it as tourism

that follows the success of a film or series made or set in a particular region and which is

featured on TV, video or DVD.

Film-induced tourism is a worldwide flourishing industry driven by the growth in travelling and

the development of the visual media entertainment industry. In the early 1990s Tooke and Baker

accomplished a study in the United Kingdom, which shows that films or television series have a

big impact on the choice of a tourism destination. According to the study there can be an increase

of visitors up to 93% within one year after a film/TV series release. Another research by Riley,

Baker and Van Doren, also in the 90’s, shows similar results: an increase in tourists up to 96% in

a film location until five years after the premiere.

As clearly can be seen, the results in visitor growth are spectacular. Film-induced tourism proves

itself as a very powerful marketing tool and with long-term effects, which even can get extended

in the case of television series, as their length of the screening and filming period is quite longer

(previously explained in the introduction). Film-induced tourism can also be an answer to

seasonality since visiting film locations can be done the whole year through.

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Film-induced tourism has been around ever since film theaters and television started to arise,

showing motion images of places no one had heard before. It added pictures to the words you

had only heard and created a curiosity to go there.

2.7 Form of Filmed-Induced Tourism

Film-induced tourism can manifest itself in many different forms. For some people it may be the

only goal of their trip, for others it just may be the participation in an organised location tour, or

visiting a specific location from a particular scene. Some of these locations have already been a

tourist attraction for many years, while other locations are turned into attractions only because of

their appearance in a film or television series. This is especially the case where film crews left

sets behind after finishing the filming. What before was just an unimportant piece of land turns

into a tourist attraction. A good example is the Hobbit film set, from ‘Lord Of The Rings’. Out of

nothing a place of tourist interest has been created.

In the case of big an international film or TV series hit, film-induced tourism can be the only

reason to travel. Interviews taken from location tourists by Roesch (2009) show us that there are

people who travel to Tunisia with the only goal of visiting the ‘Star Wars’ film locations. The

same goes up for the ‘Lord Of The Rings’ hard-core fans visiting New Zealand. It also must be

said that the degree of fanaticism of the film location tourists can change over time. In the first

years after the film release, the film locations are more likely to be visited by tourist with a very

high degree of fanaticism. As time goes by, this degree of fanaticism decreases and film or TV

series as a main goal for traveling, moves slowly to the background.

It can be said that most people already had a confrontation with a film location during their trips

even if that was not their goal. A tour guide might point out an area or landscape which has been

used as a film location, which it can be totally, new and surprising information to the tourist. For

example someone can visit Bruges just because it is a very beautiful medieval city, but during a

tour with a local guide, it is possible that he/she mentions, while standing on a certain spot, a

scene from the film ‘In Bruges’, with Colin Farrell.

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Film location tourists may even visit locations that did not appear in a film or television series.

For instance, the film ‘Braveheart’ (1995) tells the story of the struggle for Scottish

independence. While the film supposedly takes place in Scotland, most of the scenes were shot

in Ireland. Nevertheless, the film made the people flock to Scotland. On the other hand, for many

tourists, knowing that a region or landscape has been the filming location of certain a film/TV

series is simply part of the pleasure of travelling through that area.

Film-induced tourism can also lead to off-location tourism, which covers a wide variety of

different film related attractions and events, such as film studio tours, film studio theme parks,

film premieres and film festivals (Beeton, 2005).

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Table 3 – Forms & Characteristics of Film-Induced Tourism

Source: Film-induced Tourism by Sue Beeton (2005, p.10-11)

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2.8 Destination Marketing Through Film

Picturing places through fictional television films or television series has created a new

development in place imaging through television. With series such as ‘Dallas’ (1978-1991),

which continues to attract 400,000 visitors a year to Southfork Ranch in Texas (Dettmer, 2005

cited in Roesch, 2007 p.26), television introduced a new phenomenon: “the attributes of a place

could now be globally received and accepted through televised images, which resulted in the

creation of a globally accepted sense of these portrayed places” (Massey, 1994). The tourism

industry has now started promoting places through television and film with various strategies. In

some cases, the promoted places have even taken over fictional brand names. In the county of

Hertfordshire, just outside London, a tiny town called Kings Langley changed its name (for a

week) to ‘King’s Landing’, the capital’s name of the imaginary world of the TV series ‘Game of

Thrones’, to celebrate the DVD release of the third season (The Sydney Morning Herald, 2014).

Media-based destination imaging exists out of two different types of media: official and

unofficial imaging media. Official imaging media are all media designed by tourism marketers to

promote a destination, such as: brochures, flyers, press articles and travel magazines, websites,

promotional DVDs and television travel documentaries. The fact that this type of promotion is

controlled by marketing staff gives them the opportunity to choose carefully and with the

greatest consideration, the kind of image that will be transmitted to the viewers, where negative

images obviously are avoided. On the other hand unofficial imaging media are all sources of

media that are not created by tourism marketers to promote a place: novels, photographs,

television, websites, magazines, television programmes or films and TV series. “This form of

media is not created to attract tourists, but it can increase tourism and influence expectations of a

destination” (Bordelon & Dimanche, 2011). It is obvious that over unofficial media, marketers

have no influence whatsoever. This can be problematic if a destination is portrayed in a negative

way. In many cases an intervention is impossible. Yet this unofficial imaging media has not only

disadvantages. For example this media type is a completely free form of advertising and on top

of that, it often reaches more people than official media, due to the financial limitations of the

tourist marketers. As it has no intentions to attract tourists, people don’t perceive it as annoying

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publicity. And finally, unofficial media can also take away negative prejudices people have

towards certain places.

2.9 Profile Film Tourist

According to a classification by Macionis (2004) we can divide the film-induced tourists in three

main types:

1. General tourists, are those tourists which are not engaged in film-induced tourism;

they might know that certain sites have been featured in films but do not show an

interest in visiting.

2. Incidental film tourists, are those that did not intend to visit a specific film site, but

came across one during the course of their holidays and decided tot visit it.

3. Dedicated film tourists, are those who travel to the destination specifically to see the

exact locations depicted on screen or to visit a film set.

Roesch (2009) studied the experiences of film-induced tourists on three different film locations:

Salzburg (Sound of Music), Tunisia (Star Wars) and New Zealand (The Lord of the Rings).

Thereby, he found that most film-induced tourists generally are well informed about the

destination and get most information from the internet, travel guides or word of mouth. For most

of them film-induced tourism was something new, a first time experience. Regarding the origin

of these tourists, the majority was from western countries, mainly USA, UK, Germany, Australia

and Canada. The profile of the tourists varied depending on the locations and the themes of the

films. For example, Salzburg, the location of the film ‘The Sound of Music’ has a more family

theme and therefore attracted more women, where on the other hand the ‘Star Wars’ locations

attracted more men. The age range concerning, Roesch (2009) identified three major ages

groups:

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1. Gappies: backpackers who have taken a year off before or after college. They are in

their early 20s and travel on a shoestring budget and have more time available at the

destination than the other groups.

2. Revivals: people aged between 40-50 years who often travel with their partner or

children to see the film locations; they have less time but more money.

3. Initials: people aged 60 and over.

Other characteristics of the film-induced tourist discovered by Roesch (2009) was obviously a

high degree of fanaticism and the ownership of the film/TV series DVD and the repeatedly

watching of it before visiting the destination.

Figure 1 – Increasing Interest in Film: Profiles & Motivations

Source: Motion Picture Association of America, 2013

2.10 Motivation Film Tourist

The motivators for film location tourists, according to Macionis (2004), are the three factors of

‘place’ (location, attributes, landscapes, scenery), ‘personality’ (cast, characters, celebrity) and

‘performance’ (plot, theme, genre). Iso-Ahola (1982) explains tourism motivation through his

social-psychological model, which consists of two motivational dimensions: ‘escaping’ and

‘seeking’. Both dimensions influence the tourist simultaneously. Iso-Ahola (1983) states that

one’s travel behaviour is influenced by the desire to ‘escape’ form his personal routine or

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interpersonal environment. This dimension refers to a person leaving his personal problems

behind. On the other hand ‘seeking’ rewards the personal or interpersonal experiences. It consists

of learning, exploration and relaxation, while social interaction is the external reward.

Figure 2 – Social Psychological Model of Tourism Motivation

source: Adapted from Iso-Ahola (1987)

As Roesch (2009) remarks, it is very difficult to figure out the exact motivations of film tourists.

Many of them are often not able to state precisely what their main motivations are. They even

have different motivations at the same time without any preference. Roesch (2009) goes even

further and says that it impossible to recognize whether it is about the motivation to experience

the film set, its surrounding landscape or its function as a fictional place. Lastly, accessibility is

not a motivational driver to discover film locations. It is a precondition to attract visitors in large

numbers.

No single theory can possibly enclose all individual travel motivations (Parinello, 1996).This, alongside the heterogeneous nature of tourism behaviour and the belief thatmultiple motivations can be experienced simultaneously, makes it a challenging area toinvestigate (Pearce, 1993 cited in Singh, p.99).

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2.11 Economic Impacts of Film-Induced Tourism

The biggest problem to investigate film tourism seems to be that there is not much deep research

done on the economic benefits and visitor numbers and neither on reliable statistics. Many

locations never counted visitors because they have never been a tourist attraction before.

Nevertheless research shows us that the use of film locations as travel destinations has a high

value (Tooke & Baker, 1996 cited in Conrady & Buck, 2009).

Film-induced tourism is incredibly important if we talk about economic development, as many

famous television and film sites are located in small and often rural communities where without

a film production nothing ever would happen. One of the major economic benefits is that visiting

film locations can be an all year and all weather event. That is how seasonality can be spread

(Beeton, 2005).

A study focused on the UK’s inbound international tourism shows that “films depicting the UK

are responsible for attracting about 1 of 10 overseas tourists, spending around £1.8 billion a year.

This is estimated to be worth around £900 million to UK GDP” (Gross Domestic Product)

(Oxford Economics, 2007 cited in Motion Picture Association of America, 2013).

A more recent study in New Mexico, US, suggests that in this state film tourism increases the

number of visitors (between a 1.4% and 6.3%) and the average length of their trips (between a

1.2% and 12.4%). This was estimated to result in between 132 million USD and 950 million

USD in visitor spending, between 1,450 and 10,400 in employment creation, and between 8.4

million and 60.3 million USD in state taxes generated (New Mexico Tourism Department, 2008).

The New Zealand Tourism board has developed a methodology to estimate the exposure value of

‘Lord of the Rings’. Their goal was to find out what a marketing campaign would have cost to

reach the same impact as the film did. Through this study it has been estimated that the amount

of exposure New Zealand gained from the from the first ‘Lord of the Rings’ film would have

cost more than $41 million to reach the same impact with marketing efforts (New Zealand

Tourism Board, n.d. cited in Motion Picture Association of America, 2013).

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Within three years after the release of ‘Field of Dream’ (1989), it is estimated that 60,000 people

travelled to Dyersville (Iowa) to visit the baseball diamond built on farmland for the production

(Riley, Baker & Van Doren, 1998).

After the release of ‘Gorillas In The Mist’ (1988), tourism to Rwanda increased by 20 per cent.

When Steven Spielberg featured Devil’s Tower National Monument in Wyoming as the alien’s

landing site for ‘Close Encounters of the Third Kind’, the number of visitors to the national park

increased by 75 percent (Reeves, 2001 cited in Conrady & Buck, 2009).

Tom Kershaw, the owner of the Bull and Finch hotel in Boston, has become extremely active in

both the local and national tourism industry ever since his hotel was used as the site of the bar in

the television series ‘Cheers’, and in 1994 he was appointed by President Clinton to the US

Travel and Tourism Administration’s advisory board. The direct benefits of ‘Cheers’ include

around 500,000 visitors to his pub per year, an annual food and beverage turnover of 6 million

USD and ‘Cheers’ merchandising sales of around 7 million USD (Neale, 1994 cited in Beeton,

2005).

Another example of success after an appearance on the screen is the Crown Hotel (Amersham),

which was featured in the 1994 romantic comedy ‘Four Weddings and a Funeral’ (Riley et al.

1998). What makes this case remarkable is that the Crown Hotel is never mentioned by name (in

the film it’s called ‘The Jolly Boatman’). Nevertheless, fans of the film searched for the location

and the suite used in the film became fully booked for several years (Conrady & Buck, 2009).

The British Tourist Authority says its movie map, featuring film and TV locations over60 years, is one of its biggest successes; every £1 spent on producing it leads to £17 spentat a location on the map ‘About 20 per cent of overseas visitors say they’ve beeninfluenced to see Britain by what they see in the media. That amounts to £2.5 billion ayear,’ says the BTA’s Jo Leslie (Strauss, 2003, p.12).

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Table 3 – Film Tourism Impact in Destinations

Source: Hudson & Ritchie, 2006

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3. EMPIRICAL PART

3.1 Introduction to Research

When we talk about film-induced tourism the first idea that comes to our minds, as a definition

of this term, is the tourism generated by film, referring to the silver screen. But film-induced

tourism is much more than that, it includes also television series, therefore the term’s meaning

lies more in the action of filming, regardless if it is intended for cinema or television.

Nevertheless people will still in the first place relate film-induced tourism to cinema, but that

might be about to change, because there appears to be a shift from film to TV series. Over the

last few years people have showed a tendency to be more excited about new episodes of their

favourite show than they are for the release of a new blockbuster film. These days there are more

networks producing series than ever and people can access these shows very easily through

streaming services like Netflix, but the most significant reason that series are taking over the

business, is just because “there is nothing out worth seeing”. Many recent made films are

sequels, remakes or even sequel-remakes. The quality offered by the film industry is dropping,

while today’s TV series are showing us the real art. Even film director David Lynch states in an

interview with The Independent (2012) “I like the idea of a continuing story and television is a

way more interesting than cinema now. It seems like the art-house has gone to cable.” The

Guardian (2013) puts it as follows: “Television, especially the television that’s being produced

now, is wiping the floor with film.” Because television is becoming more and more a writer’s

medium, it is attracting the best acting talents. The old scenario consisted out of the fact that

actors started their careers in less quality TV shows to move on to become leading actors in

quality films, but that scenario seems to have changed. For example actor Aaron Paul (Jesse

Pinkman in ‘Breaking Bad’) ended up in a film of a computer game about some cars, after his

very strong performance in the TV series ‘Breaking Bad’. No wonder that actors from Al Pacino

to Kevin Spacey have returned to the small screen.

In our research about the impact of film-induced tourism, we will follow this new trend in the

world of entertainment and therefore focus on the impact on tourism that is generated by

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television series. The investigation analyses HBO’s ‘Game of Thrones’, ITV’s ‘Downton Abbey’

and AMC’s ‘Breaking Bad’.

3.2 Research Methodology

In this part the applied research methodology will be explained. In other words which process

has been gone through to acquire the necessary data to demonstrate the impact of TV series on

tourism.

First of all it had to be determined which TV series would be used in the investigation. Some of

the criteria were the popularity on international level and being a very recent series. As

mentioned before, on the following pages the TV series ‘Game of Thrones’, ‘Downton Abbey’

and ‘Breaking Bad’ are exposed, but throughout the research the focus lied on more than those

three series. Shows as ‘The Walking Dead’, ‘Treme’, ‘The Tudors’ and ‘The Sopranos’ were

also included in the investigation, but due to the lack of sufficient data those TV series weren’t

incorporated in the research results.

The investigation started with emailing official tourist boards asking them for information and

numbers about the impact of the relevant TV series on the destination. That wasn’t a big success.

Hardly any responses were received and therefore, strategies were changed and so the idea of

creating online surveys arose. By using the services of Google Drive three different online

surveys were created: one for tourist offices, one for companies who offer services of products

related to a TV series and one focused on tourist accommodation.

A total of 428 emails and some Facebook messages were sent twice to the three above mentioned

target groups and only 42 responded, a percentage of only 9.81. All the emails and messages

included a link to the online surveys. In the appendices examples of those surveys can be found.

In this paper all the received data is put into charts and perspective and is explained.

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3.3 Case Study 1: Game of Thrones

‘Game of Thrones’ is an American TV series that has been broadcasted since April 2011 on the

HBO (Home Box Office) premium television channel. HBO’s programming consists mainly of

theatrically motion pictures and original television series. Home Box Office is the longest

operating pay television service in the United States. The series ‘Game of Thrones’ is based on

the novels of the American writer George R. R. Martin, ‘A Song of Ice and Fire’. The TV series

is set in a medieval fantasy world, which consists of two continents, Westeros and Essos, where

sorcery and dragons are something quite common. The multiple storylines tell the stories of

noble families and savage tribes, which are involved in struggle for power or have even the will

to take over the entire kingdom. Although ‘Game of Thrones’ is an American TV series, the

filming happens in a film studio in Belfast and on location in Northern Ireland, Scotland, Malta,

Croatia, Iceland and Morocco. To describe the series’ genre, Film Affinity uses keywords as:

drama, adventure, fantasy, medieval fantasy, sword and sorcery and dragons. On the 6th of April

2014 started the 4th season of this highly popular and awarded TV series. The three previous

seasons have won 49 awards including ten Emmys and one Golden Globe and received 85 other

nominations.

3.3.1 Northern Ireland & Belfast.

Although ‘Game of Thrones’ is filmed in different countries, we will mainly focus on Northern

Ireland, because this is the destination that is most associated with the series and also seems to

generate the most tourist arrivals.

Northern Ireland is located on the island of Ireland and is one of the four constituent nations of

the United Kingdom. Northern Ireland was created in 1921 when the British government split

Ireland into two autonomous territories. As a tourist attraction Northern Ireland is best known for

its stunning landscapes and scenery, such as the Causeway Coast and Glens, which is a coastal

route that passes for example the Nine Glens of Antrim, impressive cliffs and the very famous

Giant’s Causeway, renowned for its polygonal columns of layered basalt and is Northern

Ireland’s only UNESCO World Heritage Site. Other key destinations in Northern Ireland are: the

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city of Derry, an ancient yet contemporary city; the Sperrins Mountains, Northern Ireland’s

largest and least explored mountain range; the Fermanagh Lakelands; Armagh, the ecclesiastical

capital of Ireland; the Mourne Mountains, which is an AONB (Area of Outstanding Natural

Beauty); Strangford Lough, Northern Ireland’s first marine nature reserve and Lough Neagh, the

largest freshwater lake in the British Isles.

Belfast is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland situated in the East at the mouth of the

River Lagan. The city has a population of 483,000, including the surrounding suburbs and towns.

Since the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998, most of the politically motivated

violence has disappeared and Belfast was recently even awarded as the safest city in the UK. In

the last decade the city has change dramatically due to this peace. Nowadays tourism has found

its place in Belfast and is increasing ever since. It is a city that is proud of its Victorian and

Edwardian heritage but in general Belfast is best known for its famous mural paintings on the

ends of terraced houses dating from its troubled period, its typical pubs, its shipyards where the

Titanic was built and the Queen’s University, one of the oldest universities in the UK.

3.3.2 Filming Locations

The following list shows the most highlighted filming locations of ‘Game of Thrones’ by the

Northern Ireland Tourist Board. Therefore it is the filming locations that are most exploited as a

tourist attraction.

“Let us introduce you to the locations in Northern Ireland where HBO’s ‘Game of Thrones’

creates a fantasy world worth dying for…” (Tourism Ireland, n.d.).

Old Castle Ward lies on the grounds of the Castle Ward estate, Northwest of the village of

Strangford. The old castle was built in the late 16th century by the Ward family. The estate also

includes the more recent Castle Ward, which is a 18th century mansion with both Gothic and

Classical architectural styles, Audley’s Castle, a 15th century tower house named after its owner

John Audley, and a farmyard. In the TV series ‘Game of Thrones’ is the Old Castle Ward better

known as Winterfell, a big castle located in the centre of the North, from where House Stark

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rules over its people. Within the estate also lies Audley’s Field, where the ‘Game of Thrones’

character Robb Stark pitched his camp when he was waiting for a battle and where he first fell in

love with Talisa.

Downhill Beach is an 11km stretch of sand located on the Causeway Coast. This area is best

know for its nature walks, sightings of bird life, waterfalls, sand dunes and the Mussenden

Temple, a 18th century temple built as a summer library on the edge of the cliffs. Both the temple

as the surroundings are among the most photographed scenes in Ireland. The ‘Game of Thrones’

fans will recognise this location as the exterior surroundings of Dragonstone Castle.

The Pollnagollum cave, Irish for ‘Hole of the doves’, is an active stream passage cave, situated

in a national nature reserve in County Fermanagh. Visitors get the chance to see a natural

underworld of rivers, waterfalls and winding passages. The Belmore Forest walk leads to a

viewing point for the cave. The exterior of the cave was used to film Beric Dondarrion’s hideout

in season three of the series.

Murlough Bay is located along the Causeway Coastal Route in the Northeast of County Antrim.

It is well known for its flora, fauna and geology, and its views across the ocean to Rathlin Island,

the Mull of Kintyre, Islay and various other Scottish Islands. In ‘Game of Thrones’ Murlough

Bay is better known as the ‘Iron Islands’, where Theon rides on horse with his sister Yara and

where Davos Seaworth is shipwrecked after the Battle of Blackwater Bay.

Gosford Castle is a 19th century luxury castle and courtyard surrounded by a huge forest park

and walled gardens, situated in County Armagh. National Trust describes it as “one of the most

original buildings of the first half of the 19th century”. The castle was used to represent Riverrun,

the former seat of House Tully and also for the interior scenes of Little Finger’s brothel in King’s

Landing.

Tollymore Forest Park exists out of 630 hectares at the foot of the Mourne Mountains offering

views over the sea. The park is an area for many outdoor activities, including walking, camping,

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horse riding and orienteering. It is in this forest that Ned Stark and his sons find the direwolf

pups and where a member of the Night’s Watch runs into a White Walker.

The Dark Hedges is an avenue of beech trees planted by the Stuart family in the 18th century

and was intended to impress visitors approaching the entrance of their Georgian mansion,

Gracehill House. Nowadays it has become one of the most photographed natural phenomena in

Northern Ireland. In the series The Dark Hedges is better know as The Kingsroad, where Arya

Stark escapes from King’s Landing.

Ballintoy is a small village situated between the Giants Causeway and Carrick-A-Rede rope

bridge that looks out to Rathlin Island. It is a very picturesque place and it has got some

beautiful beaches. Ballintoy’s seaside was used as a setting for Pyke, one of the Iron Islands in

‘Game of Thrones’. Pyke is the home of House Greyjoy.

Larrybane is located along the North Coast close to Carrick-Rede Rope Bridge. This area is

well known for its beautiful nature and fisherman cottages. Close to Larryban lies Sheep Island,

a popular breeding place for birds. ‘Game of Thrones’ fans will recognise this location as

Storm’s End, where for example Catelyn Stark comes to treat with Renly Baratheon, and where

Brienne of Tarth is given a place in Renly’s Kingsguard.

The Cushendun Caves were formed over a period of 400 million years and under extreme

weather conditions. They can be found just besides the coastal village. It is here that the

Melisandre gives birth to the shadow baby.

Inch Abbey is located on the North bank if the Quoile River and was founded by John de

Courcy. The buildings at Inch Abbey are mainly from the 12th and 13th centuries. In the series

Inch Abbey refers to the crossing point The Twins. Catelyn goes to bargain with Walder Frey to

allow them to cross.

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3.3.3 Game of Thrones Inspired Products and Services

The official visitor website for Northern Ireland has dedicated a section of their virtual space on

the TV series under the title ‘Game of Thrones: Filming Locations in Northern Ireland’. Here a

short list of the main filming locations with a brief explanation can be found. At the bottom they

refer to self-guided ‘Game of Thrones’ tours and tours run by independent operators. Also

promotion for the ‘Game of Thrones’ exhibition can be spotted on their website. If clicked it

takes the visitor to a website only dedicated to ‘Game of Thrones’ and its upcoming exhibition.

From the 11th to the 15th of June the ‘Game of Thrones exhibition is coming for the second time

to Belfast. Marie-Therese O’Neil (2014) from the Northern Ireland Tourist Board explained:

“The exhibition will focus on the storyline and events of Season 3 but there will be a few

surprises from the fourth season, bringing the action right up-to-date.” The free of charge ‘Game

of Thrones’ exhibition will allow fans to enter the fantasy world of Westeros and explore places

like King’s Landing, climbing ‘the wall’ at the Oculus Rift virtual reality experience and enjoy

over 100 original artifacts, including costumes, weapons, armour, storyboards, model dragon and

of course the opportunity to get a photo taken on the Iron Throne.

The official webpage, created by the Northern Ireland tourist board, about the Causeway Coast

and Glens shows off with a header image dedicated to the TV series ‘Game of Thrones’

(accessed on 6 May, 2014). The section ‘Explore’ is broken down into subheadings such as

‘Causeway Coastal Route’, ‘Glens of Antrim’, ‘Towns, Trails and Ancestry’ and ‘Game of

Thrones – Welcome to the real Westeros’. Under the section ‘7 Great Itineraries’ a reference to

the TV series can be found as well: ‘Game of Thrones Itinerary’. On this website a three day

self-drive itinerary and a locations map can be downloaded as a PDF. The tour takes the visitor

to many of the previous described filming locations, but the “itinerary not only brings to life the

drama of the series, but also provides a front row seat at locations steeped in local myth and

legend, where ancient warriors walked long before leading men.” The itinerary also includes,

although no filming may have taken place, a stop at the UNESCO’s Giant’s Causeway. The tour

starts from Northern Ireland’s capital city of Belfast.

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The ‘Clearsky Adventure Centre’, opened in 2006 and is based on the National Trust Castle

Ward estate or better known as Winterfell for the ‘Game of Thrones’ fans. This adventure centre

offers rock climbing, abseiling, orienteering, team building challenges, kayaking and canoeing

amongst others. But now Clearsky also offers ‘Game of Thrones’ dedicated activities, such as

film set archery sessions, self guided cycle tours and medieval lunches and BBQ. A replica of the

Winterfell archery range has been recreated in Old Castle Ward’s courtyard on the very same

spot where the filming took place. Visitors get the change to dress up in official ‘Game of

Thrones’ costumes and shoot medieval arrows using ancient bows. They receive instructions

from character costumed archery instructors and various photo opportunities will be offered. As

many pivotal scenes of the series were filmed at the Castle Ward estate, Clearsky offers filming

location cycle tours. They give their clients a ‘Game of Thrones Stark Sack’ which consists of

two ‘Game of Thrones Stark Family costume capes, two swords and one medieval scroll filming

locations map. The medieval lunches and BBQ they offer are called ‘King Robert Banquets’.

McComb’s Coach Travel has been specialising in daily tours to the Giant’s Causeway for 15

years and now they have started to focus on ‘Game of Thrones’ tours as well. This limited to 30

passengers coach tour also combines the filming locations with the Causeway Coastal Route and

its UNESCO’s Giant’s Causeway.

Brit Movie Tours, already offering tours dedicated to film and TV series such as Harry Potter,

Downton Abbey, James Bond, now also has its own ‘Game of Thrones’ tour, which is not so

different from other mini coach tours dedicated to the series.

Since 2013 the Belgian brewery Ommegang, located near Cooperstown, New York, has brought

‘Game of Thrones’ inspired beers on the market, with exciting names such as: Iron Throne, Take

The Black Stout (inspired by the ‘Night’s Watch’) and Fire and Blood (inspired by ‘Deanerys

Targaryen’ and her three dragons).

In Belfast several pubs offer ‘Game of Thrones’ inspired food and drinks, such as Ned Stark’s

venison burgers, Joffrey’s cheese and onion tarts, Khaleesi’s mini blood sausages and also

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cocktails: The Night’s Watch, The Tyrion Lannister Shot, The Dragon Lady, Wildfire on

Blackwater bay, and so on.

Out of Northern Island the luxury travel company Zicasso recently launched a week long guided

tour of the show’s key filming locations in Croatia. Iceland Travel offers a four night ‘Game of

Thrones – Iceland: Beyond the Wall’ tour that highlights the landscapes featured in the series

such as Lake Myvatn, Gullfoss Waterfall and the Geysir hot spring.

3.3.4 Game of Thrones Inspired Promotion Campaign

HBO is lending its name and logo to a new Tourism Ireland campaign that wants to promote

Northern Ireland as a holiday destination all over the world. As a medium for the campaign

Tourism Ireland has chosen for Facebook and Twitter and it is running from the second of April

(2014) until early June, simultaneously with the launch of the new fourth season, in Great

Britain, United States, Canada, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands and Scandinavia.

HBO is one of America’s most successful television companies whose services are available in

more than 50 countries outside the United States, and their world wide hit ‘Game of Thrones’

has 14.4 million gross viewers per episode only in the U.S. The partnership between the two

parties offers Tourism Ireland a unique opportunity to promote Northern Ireland to the many

‘Game of Thrones’ fans around the world. The campaign wants to use the huge global popularity

of ‘Game of Thrones’ as a driving factor to make tourists head for Northern Ireland. Arlene

Foster (2014) form Tourism Ireland states: “The Tourism Ireland adverts have been developed in

close collaboration with HBO and are specially designed to bridge the fantasy of Game of

Thrones with the reality of Northern Ireland.” Images of featured landscapes in the TV series are

used in the advertising campaign with slogans, which relate to the plots, as ‘Winter Is Coming,

Book Now’, ‘Explore The Realms of Men Before It’s Too Late’ or ‘A Holiday Won’t Cost You

An Arm Or A Head’.

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Niall Gibbons (Tourism Ireland, 2014), CEO of Tourism Ireland, said:

We are delighted to announce our partnership with HBO to highlight Northern Ireland ina completely new way on the global stage. TV and film are recognised as stronginfluencers on prospective visitors, so this campaign is a major opportunity to shine aspotlight on Northern Ireland. Game of Thrones fans worldwide will see these ads,spiking their curiosity about the landscapes and locations featured in the series andinspire them to come and explore them for themselves.

3.3.5 Game of Thrones’ Economic Impact

Since the filming of ‘Game of Thrones’, whose is now broadcasted in more than 70 countries,

the biggest TV production in Europe has become very important to the Northern Irish economy.

The first four seasons generated an economic benefit of £80 million, including wages for cast

and crew, hotels, services and tourism and has created more than 900 full time and 5,700 part

time jobs, according to Northern Ireland’s enterprise minister Arlene Foster (Addley, 2014).

The Northern Ireland Screen agency, which purpose is to promote the development of film,

animation and television production industry, pushed heavily to secure the choice of the

producers for Northern Ireland, and not for example for Scotland. The agency provided HBO

with £10.85 million production funding throughout the four series, but it seems that the

investment was more than worth it (Castle, 2014). Moyra Lock (2014 cited in Addley, 2014

par.6), marketing director of Northern Ireland Screen, said:

The economic impact from Game of Thrones is incredible. But it’s more than money. It’salso what it has meant in terms of added value. The programme has spawned spin-offindustries in extras and post-production with opportunities for people to acquire skills ina range of key trades from carpentry and special effects to health and safety.

The TV show provided work to jewellers amongst others, who were appointed to create magic

symbols, crowns, brooches, pendants, etc. The Steensons Jewellers are even putting together a

new line products based on their ‘Game of Thrones’ designs.

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Belfast was the only city in Ireland and the UK to host the ‘Game of Thrones’ exhibition, taking

the visitors to the enchanted world of Westeros featuring 70 original artifacts. Over 18,000 fans

came from as far as Australia, the Philippines and the USA. In June 2014 the exhibition will visit

Belfast for a second time and probably even more fans will flock to Northern Ireland’s capital

(Fennell, 2014).

The Game of Thrones economic impact is also a hot topic in the newspapers, with headlines like:

‘Northern Ireland’s Westeros could be a Game of Thrones tourism goldmine’ (Irish Examiner,

2014), ‘Game of Thrones brings its magic to Northern Ireland’s economy’ (The Guardian, 2014),

‘Game of Thrones boosts Northern Ireland Tourism’ (Irish Post, 2014).

Northern Ireland Screen admits that they hope that ‘Game of Thrones’ will do the same for

Northern Ireland what ‘Lord of the Rings’ did for New Zealand and what ‘Wallander’ and the

‘Millenium’ trilogy still do for Sweden. With ‘Game of Thrones’ they want to wash away the

dark period of The Troubles (Castle, 2014).

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3.3.6 Results Data Collection

In this part the results of the research will be displayed with the intention to do so as visual as

possible. All the following charts are based on the information that was gathered through

surveys. The first chunk of information shows us the profile of the tourists who visit Northern

Ireland.

Chart 1 – Tourist Profile, Northern Ireland

In this first chart, which reflects the tourist profile, only the results’ highest values are listed, this

to avoid an excess of charts which would arise if each investigated aspect of the tourist’s profile

would be displayed.

The main motif to visit Northern Ireland is for holidays (66.66%). The options ‘convention,

conference or seminar’ and ‘other business purposes’ were left blank, ‘other’ motifs are good for

33.33 percent. Half of Northern Ireland’s tourists are Europeans, followed by North Americans

with 42.30 percent. Both tourists coming from South America and from Asia represent 3.84

percent. The largest age group represented among the tourists, consists of people between 35 and

49 years old (34.78%), closely followed, with 30.43 percent, by people with an age between 25

and 34. The third largest group represents, with 26.08 percent, people with an age between 50

and 64. Most tourists travel with their partner (43.47%) or with their families (26.08%),

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travelling in a group is the third most popular option (21.73%) and travelling alone is the least

frequent option (8.69%). The reason why people opt for Northern Ireland, is above all,

determined by its beautiful nature (31.57%) followed by the art-historical heritage, nice

atmosphere and the many attractions (15.78%). The most consulted information source by the

tourists is internet (44.11%). The tour operator and travel guide go in second place (14.70%)

followed by friends and family (11.76%). The automobile leads the list of the most used means

of transport to get to the destination with 39.13 percent, followed by plane (26.08%), coach

(21.73%) and train (8.69%). Both hotels and bed and breakfasts (29.16%) are the most popular

types of accommodation, with hostels on a third place (16.66%). Most of the tourists stay for a

few days (65%) in Northern Ireland, 15 percent only one day, and 10% stays a week or more

than a week. Tourist attractions represent the biggest expense by tourists (59.25%), followed by

shopping and gastronomy (18.51%).

Chart 2 – Increase in visitors since the appearance of ‘Game of Thrones’

All surveyed tourist offices (100%) stated that they have noticed an increase in visitors of 1 to 20

percent. Sixty percent of the surveyed companies, who offer for example tours dedicated to the

TV series ‘Game of Thrones’, say that they have observed a growth in clients of 81 to 100

percent, twenty percent has noticed an increase of 21 to 40 percent and another twenty percent an

increase of 1 to 20 percent. Eighty percent of the companies who offer accommodation such as

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hotels, bed and breakfasts, hostels, have perceived a growth in guests of 1 to 20 percent and

twenty percent states an increase of 21 to 40 percent.

Chart 3 – Companies who offer Game of Thrones Activities

Twenty percent of the companies who offer ‘Game of Thrones’ activities emerged as a result of

the appearance of the TV series. The other 80% already existed. The majority of those

companies (60%) has other activities besides their ‘Game of Thrones’ tours.

Chart 4 – Game of Thrones’ influence on profits

All surveyed companies who have activities dedicated to Game of Thrones haven seen their

profits grow. Thirty-three percent of the analysed accommodation offering companies state that

they have noticed an increase in their profits.

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Chart 5 – Peak Season Northern Ireland

For the most companies, with 88.88 percent, the period of July-August-September is the busiest

one, while for 11.11 percent April-May-Jun is the period of highest occupancy.

Chart 6 – Game of Thrones as a promotion tool

Of the surveyed accommodation offering companies 44,44 percent declared to use ‘Game of

Thrones’ in promotional campaigns.

Chart 7 – The Importance of Game of Thrones to visit Northern Ireland

For 80% of the tourists, ‘Game of Thrones’ is just as important as other tourist attractions, while

for 20 percent the TV series is secondary, the main motif is the destination in itself.

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Chart 8 – Tourist’s Level of Fanaticism: Game of Thrones

It seems that tourists who participate in ‘Game of Thrones’ related activities are all real fanatics,

knowing every little detail about the series.

The research that has been done, shows us that tourists visiting Northern Ireland are coming

mainly from Europe and North America with their partner as a travel companion and are

between 35 and 49 years old. One of the main factors why they choose for Northern Ireland is its

beautiful nature. Information about the destination is gathered through online sources and their

favourite accommodation type is a hotel or a bed and breakfast. They mostly stay for a few days

and spend their money on tourist attractions.

Clearly there is a remarkable increase in the number of visitors that Northern Ireland is receiving

since the appearance of the TV series ‘Game of Thrones’. This growth is especially experienced

by companies who offer ‘Game of Thrones’ related activities, which is logical of course,

although most of them offer much more than ‘Game of Thrones’ spin off activities or already

existed before the TV series first appearance. As a consequence of this increase in tourists, those

companies are making more profit, agreed by all the research’s participants, but people who run

hotels, bed and breakfasts, hostels, etc. seem to notice this increase in profits much less, although

44 percent uses ‘Game of Thrones’ to promote their business.

People who have opted for Northern Ireland as their next holiday destination after watching the

show ‘Game of Thrones’ seem to consider the country’s general tourist attractions just as

important as the TV series, therefore it looks as if people just want to enjoy the beautiful

landscapes as seen in the TV show, and the details about the fantasy world are less important.

TV series can give people inspiration to go to a certain country but that doesn’t necessary imply

that they also want to see the exact location of a certain scene and therefore they are also

interested in other attractions the country has to offer.

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Those who choose ‘Game of Thrones’ tours and other activities are usually real die-hard fans,

who know every little detail about the show.

3.4 Case Study 2: Downton Abbey

‘Downton Abbey’ is a British TV series that has been broadcasted since September 2010 on the

ITV (Independent Television) television channel and co-produced by Carnival Films and

Masterpiece. ITV is the oldest commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom,

which was launched to provide competition to the BBC. ‘Downton Abbey’ is a costume drama

or period drama where costumes, sets and properties are featured in order to capture the

ambience of a particular era. The TV show is set in an Edwardian country house in 1912 and

portrays the lives of the Crawley family and the servants who work for them. The Crawleys have

been the Earls of Grantham since 1772. The family lives in beautiful bedrooms with views over

the park, while their servants are living just below them under the stairs. Some of the servants are

loyal to the family, but others are looking out for new opportunities. The difference lies in the

fact that the servants know so much of the family’s secrets, while the family knows so little

about theirs. The series is set in the fictional Yorkshire country estate of Downton Abbey. In the

real world Highclere Castle in Hampshire is used for exterior and interior filming, although some

of the bedrooms were constructed and filmed at the Ealing Studios in West London. The village

of Bampton in Oxfordshire is used to film outdoor scenes. ‘Downton Abbey has been nominated

for many awards and has won several Primetime Emmys, Golden Globes, BAFTA Awards, and

more.

3.4.1 Oxfordshire & Highclere

Oxfordshire is a county in South East England with a population of 653,800 and is known for its

ancient university city of Oxford, its typical English landscapes where the River Thames looks

for her way through and the Cotswolds, a range of hills defined by the bedrock of Jurassic

limestone. The area is considered as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) and is

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noted for its stone built villages. Cotswold also counts with a wildlife park. In the town of

Woodstock Britain’s greatest palace can be found. Blenheim Palace, the birthplace of Winston

Churchill, is a masterpiece of 18th century baroque architecture and forms part of the UNESCO

World Heritage Sites. England wouldn’t be England without its gardens. In Waterperry people

can visit eight acres of landscape ornamental gardens. Oxfordshire also offers a wide range of

footpath networks connecting market towns and villages.

Oxford is the oldest university-city in the United Kingdom and together with Cambridge it has

long represented the English academic establishment and elite. Oxford is famous for its medieval

churches and colleges that dominate the town. Some of its main attractions are: the Christ

Church and College, a 16th century cathedral and a constituent college of the University of

Oxford and a filming location for the Harry Potter films; the Radcliffe Camera, another building

of Oxford’s university, which is a neo-classical academic library; the Ashmolean Museum, the

oldest public museum in England, dedicated to art and archaelogy; Oxford Castle, a large partly

ruined Norman medieval castle; Pitt Rivers Museum, displaying the archaeological and

anthropological collections of the University of Oxford. Not only has Oxford’s heritage been

used in the Harry Potter films, but also in the TV series ‘Inspector Morse’ and ‘Midsomer

Murders’ (Visit Oxford & Oxfordshire England, n.d.).

Highclere is a village situated in the North Wessex Downs, another Area of Outstanding Natural

Beauty, in the county of Hampshire. The village is most famous for its Castle, a Victorian house

and setting for several films, such as ‘Pride and Prejudice’ and ‘The Four Feathers’, and the TV

series ‘Downton Abbey’. The Carnarvon family has lived at Highclere since 1679. The current

castle stands on the site of an earlier house, which was also built on the foundations of the

medieval palace owned by the Bishops of Winchester for 800 years. The house was built in the

Jacobethan style in the 19th century and features 1,000 acres of parkland (Highclere Castle &

Gardens, n.d.).

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3.4.2 Filming Locations

Bampton is a picturesque village in the Oxfordshire’s Cotswolds, located 30 km West from

Oxford, with a population of only 2,505 and has been famous for its Morris Dancing traditions

celebrated each month of May. The ‘Downton Abbey’ fans will recognize Bampton as the TV

series’ Downton village where many dramas have been played out in the streets.

Swinbrook is a tiny village located 12 km from Bampton. In this village The Swan Inn can be

found. This is where lady Sybil and Branson stayed while planning their breakout in series two.

In real life the Inn is owned by the Dowager Duchess of Devonshire, the last surviving Mitford

sister.

Witney is the largest of the market towns in Oxfordshire and its architecture reflects the past

prosperity of the woolen trade. Close to Witney, a Victorian Farm Musuem with historic farm

buildings can be found. In the TV series ‘Downton Abbey’ it is better known as the Yew Tree

Farm where many farming scenes were shot. It is also home of Mr. Drewe character.

Shilton is a little known picturesque village in Oxfordshire. The old forge of Shilton was

transformed by the Downton Abbey’s film crew into the series’ village pub.

Greys Court is a Tudor mansion with gardens near Henley-on-Thames in Oxfordshire. The

mansion is now in the hands of National Trust and therefore open to the public. The name comes

from an old connection to the Grey family, descendants of the Norman knight Anchetil de Greye.

In ‘Downton Abbey’ Greys Court was the setting for a picnic party involving all members of the

Crawley family.

Highclere Castle is the main film location of the series ‘Downton Abbey’. It is here where the

all the drama happens. The author, Julian Fellowes, who is a friend of the Carnarvon family, the

owners of Highclere Castle, had Highclere Castle in mind while writing the series.

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3.4.3 Downton Abbey Inspired Products and Services

The official visitor website for Oxfordshire has dedicated a section of their page on film tourism.

When ‘What to See & Do’ is clicked, the option ‘Oxfordshire on Screen’ will appear. On that

page some references are made to the films ‘Harry Potter’ and ‘The Golden Compass’ and the

TV series ‘Inspector Morse’, ‘Midsomer Murders’ and ‘Dowton Abbey’. As for ‘Downton

Abbey’ some of the main filming locations are highlighted and a ‘Downton Abbey’ map can be

downloaded. The map shows Oxfordshire and where the filming locations are situated with some

very brief information about each one of them. On another official tourism website called

‘oxfordshirecotswolds.org’ an image of a ‘Downton Abbey’ character can be spotted in the

page’s header with the heading ‘Downton Abbey film locations in the Oxfordshire Cotswolds

including Bampton, which doubles as the fictional village of Downton’. In the ‘Downton Abbey’

section of the website a film location leaflet can be downloaded. The leaflet offers the visitor

almost the same as the map created by the Oxfordshire website, but this leaflet contains a little

bit more information and the layout work is better.

International Friends is part of the GTi Travel Group and has been operating tours since 2002

specifically for overseas visitors to Britain. They offer two different day trips and one overnight

tour dedicated to ‘Downton Abbey’ all departing from London. One of their day trips operates

every Wednesday and Friday and visits all main filming locations except for Highclere Castle

due to its very limited opening times. This explains why the other day trip, which does include

Highclere Castle, is already sold out for 2014. The overnight tour is a cocktail of different

themed locations. Except from ‘Downton Abbey’ filming locations (not including Highclere

Castle), this overnight tour also offers visits to Windsor Castle, Stonehenge, Bath and Oxford.

International Friends offers many other tours than the ones dedicated to ‘Downton Abbey’.

Brit Movie Tours offers four different ‘Downton Abbey’ tours, where two of them include a visit

to Highclere Castle, but again due its very limited opening times those tours are already sold out

as well. Also Brit Movie Tours has a tour of more than one day, in fact it is a three day tour.

Here the ‘Downton Abbey’ filming locations are combined with experiencing aspects of the

Edwardian life through, for example, a journey on a real steam train. The tours depart all from

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London. Brit Movie Tours, as the name suggests, offers also tours dedicated to other series and

films.

Viator even offers eight different tours where the ‘Downton Abbey’ filming locations are

included. The tours differ in what filming locations are offered and which extras, such as Oxford

or Stonehenge. They also differ in their length and in the fact that some are private tours.

Great British Tours has limited the tour it offers about ‘Downton Abbey’ to the very basics and

only visit Highclere Castle and Bampton. As they include Highclere Castle their tour offer is

limited, nevertheless they operate daily when the castle is open.

On the other hand Zicasso goes for a luxury private seven day ‘Downton Abbey’ tour. Apart

from the ‘Downton Abbey’ filming locations (including Highclere Castle), Zicasso takes the

visitor to other early 20th century themed museums and other attractions.

It can even be more expensive with NoteWorthy Events. For $12,300 USD the Earl and

Countess of Carnarvon (owners of Highclere Castle) will personally greet the visitor when he

arrives at the main entrance and invite him to tea and coffee served in the Countess’ morning

room. The package also includes a private tour of the State Rooms and lunch in the State Dining

Room, with wines chosen by the earl from his own wine cellar.

It seems that ‘Downton Abbey’ fans are not only enthusiastic about the storylines and the

characters, but also about the costumes. The producers became aware of this growing interest

and launched a ‘Downton Abbey’ clothing collection in late 2013. The clothing line goes along

with other wide ranges of new merchandise, from beauty products to furniture. Some of these

things have already been available since 2012 (Karmali, 2013). The 1928 Jewelry Company has

created a ‘Downton Abbey’ Jewellery Collection transforming the inspiration of the series into a

contemporary brand (Downton Abbey Jewelry, n.d.). In the Winterthur Museum in Delaware,

U.S., runs an exhibition (from March 1, 2014 – January 4, 2015), which exposes the costumes of

‘Downton Abbey’.

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Not only clothing lines have arisen from the TV series, it goes even further with ‘Downton

Abbey’ cookbooks, such as: ‘Edwardian Cooking: 80 Recipes Inspired by Downton Abbey’s

Elegant Meals’ by Larry Edwards and ‘Abbey Cooks Entertain: 220 recipes with photos to help

you entertain the Downton way’ by Pamela Foster.

3.4.4 Downton Abbey Inspired Promotion Campaign

Four famous British stars have become the face of a promotion campaign to encourage the Brits

to go on holiday in their home country. Downton Abbey’s Michelle Dockery (Lady Mary in the

TV series) is one of these stars. In the campaign she is pictured at the Giant’s Causeway in

Northern Ireland and Grint on Bridlington Beach in Yorkshire, dressed up in the typical

‘Downton Abbey’ costumes. The ‘Holiday at Home are Great’ advertisement shows the four

celebrities encouraging the British to discover UK destinations and ends with the line: ‘No

passports. No jabs. No visas. No Euros. No wonder holidays at home are so great.’ The

campaign has cost £5 million what it makes the UK’s biggest tourism drive ever (Whitelocks,

2012).

A promotion campaign only based on ‘Downton Abbey’ seems not to exist, although in a certain

way there might be a need for it, if only it were to inform the American tourists who flock to the

wrong village in search of ‘Downton Abbey’. They are actually looking for Bampton, but they

end up in the unknown tiny village of Downton, near Salisbury. Here as well tourism is booming

and the local pubs are acting as the unofficial tourism offices. The Bull Hotel’s landlord James

Neve said that at least two tourists a week ask for them to show ‘Downton Abbey’. Many of

these tourists finally come to the conclusion that they have made a mistake and that this village

has nothing to do with the TV series (Carter and Dodd, 2013).

3.4.5 Downton Abbey’s Economic Impact

Already in 2011 one in eight Brits have visited a British film or TV landmark, with Highclere

Castle as one of the top locations. More than one in 10 Brits want to visit ‘Downton Abbey.

Mark Rothery (2011 cited in The Telegraph, 2011), managing director of the CSMA (Civil

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Service Motoring Association), says: “(...) this research shows that our love of great British TV

programmes and films has actually boosted the UK tourism industry.”

Meredith Pearson (2012 cited in Pawlowski, 2012), spokeswoman for Visit Britain, says that:

‘Downton’ is especially good at showing visitors that there is more to Britain than just‘Londen-centric’ landmarks. (…) ‘Downton Abbey’ is really showcasing the beauty ofour countryside and quaint villages and all of the manor houses across the country. Wehad no idea that it would take on a life of its own. It’s just become so popular.

Lady Carnarvon (2012 cited in Pawlowski, 2012), owner of the Highclere property, states that

“about 50,000 people came to see the house in 2011, compared to about 30,000 who visited

before the series began airing in the U.K. in fall 2010.” The tourist demand has become so great

that the family, now asks to buy entrances tickets in advance and a timed ticket system has been

installed to avoid having too many people inside the castle at one time. In 2013 the estimated

number of visitors a day was around 1,200 in summer, including plenty of Americans and

Australians. Visitors spending between £8 and £20 for a ticket, plus an extra £10 in the tearoom

or gift shop, makes the till fill easily. The TV series in that way has helped to secure the future of

Highclere Castle that in 2009 was facing a £11.75 million repair bill. Lord Carnarvon says that

‘Downton Abbey’ has taken off the financial pressure (Francis, 2013). The Downton effect has

also led to an increase in the number of bookings for weddings (in Highclere Castle) with an

average spend of £30,000.

In the summer of 2012, the ‘Downton Abbey’ crew went North to the Scottish village Inveraray

to film the show’s Christmas special in the Inveraray Castle. During the shooting days the crew,

existing out of 150 people, booked out many local bed and breakfasts, giving a boost to the local

economy during a quiet period while everyone else was watching the London Olympic Games

(Tweedie, 2013).

Since the appearing of ‘Donwton Abbey’ on the TV screen, house prices in Bampton have been

going up. Stephen Wolfenden, director of Oxfordshire at County Homesearch, says that in the

medium to long term, Bampton will become a good place to invest in property (O’Hare, 2012).

But unfortunately the TV series has also a negative impact on Bampton. The home developer

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Richborough Estates wants to build 160 new homes in the village, which has a population of

3,000 people. The residents are afraid that these now houses will bring to many cars to the

village, which would increase traffic and congestion. Another concern of the people of Bampton

is that the development could lead to further flooding, and Bampton’s medical practice cannot

accommodate any more patients. Society for the Protection of Bampton chairman Trevor Milne-

Day said that if the application is approved the people of Bampton may consider demonstrating

while the TV series is being filmed (Robinson, 2014).

In February 2014, many American newspapers had headlines mentioning ‘Downton Abbey’:

‘U.S. face a ‘Downton Abbey’ economy’, ‘America risks becoming a Downton Abbey

economy’, ‘Why the US needs tax reform to avoid a ‘Downton Abbey’ economy’. With these

headlines the newspapers wanted to show that early 20th century British class divisions, as

portrayed in the TV series ‘Downton Abbey’, may be closer to today’s U.S. reality than many

think (Summers, 2014). Obviously the articles talk about the widening gap between America’s

rich and poor. It must be said that it is striking to see that even in serious economic business

articles, references to a TV show are made to reinforce a statement or to make a clarifying

comparison. This demonstrates that TV series have a big impact on the many layers of our

society.

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3.4.6 Results Data Collection

In this part the results of the research will be exposed with the intention to do so as visual as

possible. All the following charts are based on the information that was gathered through

surveys. The first chunk of information shows us the profile of the tourists who visit

Oxfordshire.

Chart 9 – Tourist Profile, Oxfordshire

In this first chart, which reflects the tourist profile, only the results’ highest values are listed, this

to avoid an excess of charts which would arise if each investigated aspect of the tourist’s profile

would be displayed.

The number one reason to visit Oxfordshire is for holidays (62.50%), followed by ‘other’ (25%)

and ‘convention, conference, seminar’ (12.50%). Most visitors are coming from Europe (50%)

and North America (41.66%). The most Oxfordshire tourists have an age between 35 and 49

(30%) and between 50 and 64 (30%) followed by the age group between 65 and 74 (20%). Most

of them travel with their partner (66.66%), with their family (33.33%) or in group (25.00%). The

reason why people choose for Oxfordshire is defined by its art-historical heritage (33.33%),

culture (16.66%) and beautiful nature (16.66%). The tourist gets his information especially from

internet (45.45%) followed by friends and family (13.63%) and tour operator (13.63%). To get to

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the destination the car (83.33%) is the most popular mean of transportation. The Oxfordshire

tourist prefers to stay in hotels (42.85%) followed by bed and breakfasts (28.57). Usually the

visitors stay only one day (53.84%) or just a few days (38.46%) at the destination, spending their

money especially on tourist attractions (36.36%) and gastronomy (18.18%).

Chart 10 – Increase in visitors since the appearance of ‘Downton Abbey’

Sixty percent of the tourist offices sees an increase of 1 to 20 percent in visitors since the

appearance of ‘Downton Abbey’. Twenty percent has observed a growth of 21 to 40 percent

and another 20 percent of 81 to 100 percent. Half of the questioned tourism companies have

noticed an increase in 41 to 60 percent and the other half says to have noticed an increase of

61 to 80 percent. All surveyed-accommodation companies have observed a growth of 1 to 20

percent in guests.

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Chart 11 – Companies who offer Downton Abbey Activities

More than 30 percent of all the questioned companies who offer ‘Downton Abbey’ activities

have emerged as a result of the TV series, and 33 percent of them offer only services related

to the show and have no side activities or offer no other tours.

Chart 12 – Downton Abbey’s influence on profits

The tourist companies who offer ‘Downton Abbey’ activities seem to have noticed an increase in

profits, this is said by 66.66 percent of them, but companies offering accommodation say no

growth in profits has been seen.

Chart 13 – Peak Season Oxfordshire

For Oxfordshire it seems that the period April-May-Jun is just as busy as the period of July-

August-September.

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Chart 14 – Downton Abbey as a promotion tool

Half of the surveyed companies (both accommodation offering companies as tour organizing

companies) use ‘Downton Abbey’ to promote their business.

Chart 15 – The Importance of Downton Abbey to visit Oxfordshire

Concerning the importance of ‘Downton Abbey’ to visit Oxfordshire there appears to be no

remarkable difference.

Chart 16 – Tourist’s Level of Fanaticism: Downton Abbey

It seems that tourists who participate in ‘Downton Abbey’ related activities are all real fanatics,

knowing every little detail about the series.

The investigation that has been done, let us understand that tourists visiting Oxfordshire are

coming principally from Europe and North America with their partner as a travel companion and

are between 35 and 64 years old. One of the major points why they opt for Oxfordshire is its art-

historical heritage. Data about the destination is collected through online sources and their

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favourite accommodation type is a hotel. They particularly stay only for one day and spend their

money on tourist attractions.

Plainly there is a growth marked in the number of tourists that Oxfordshire is receiving since the

appearance of the TV series ‘Downton Abbey’. One can observe the same results as in the

previously explained research about the TV series ‘Game of Thrones’. The increase in visitors is

in particular felt by companies who offer ‘Downton Abbey’ related activities, although most of

them offer much more than that, or already existed before the TV series first appearance. As a

consequence of this growth in visitors, those companies are making more profit, stated by 66.66

percent of the investigation’s participants, but people who run hotels, bed and breakfasts, hostels,

etc. do not seem to notice this increase in profits, although 50 percent admits the use of

‘Downton Abbey’ to promote their business.

For one third of the people who have visited Oxfordshire since the appearance of ‘Downton

Abbey’, the TV series seems to be the only reason to visit the destination, which makes today’s

Oxfordshire tourism quite reliant on the TV show.

3.5 Case Study 3: Breaking Bad

‘Breaking Bad’ is an American television series created by Vince Gilligan and produced by High

Bridge Entertainment, Gran Via Productions and Sony Pictures Television. The series was

released in 2008 on the American AMC (American Movie Classics) television channel. With a

fifth season in 2013 the TV show came to an end. AMC forms part of AMC Networks, which is

an entertainment company in the United States that owns various cable channels, a film theater in

New York and an independent film company.

‘Breaking Bad’ follows the life of Walter White (Bryan Cranston), a chemistry teacher who lives

in Albuquerque, New Mexico with his wife and teenage son. One day Walter is diagnosed with

cancer and the doctors give him only two years left to live. Through a desire to secure his

family’s financial security, White chooses to make money in the criminal world of drugs by

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making his own ‘blue meth’ (methamphetamine), which has a superiour quality, what makes it

very sought-after and high in price. Together with his former student and partner in crime, Jesse

Pinkman (Aaron Paul), White and Pinkman tumble in a dangerous word of drugs and crime, and

Walter, little by little, becomes a stranger to his family. The TV series’ genre can be best

described as crime drama, thriller and even black comedy, as ‘Breaking Bad’ has some comic

undertones.

In 2014, ‘Breaking Bad’ entered the Guinness Book of Records as the highest rated TV show of

all time, which is no surprise having 243 award nominations and 95 wins, such as the Emmy

Awards, Golden Globe Awards, Satellite Awards, and so on.

3.5.1 Albuquerque, New Mexico

Albuquerque is with a population of 555,417, the biggest city in the U.S. state of New Mexico.

The city is best known for its hot-air balloon festival, which takes place every year during early

October. The Balloon Fiesta is a nine-day event and with its 750 balloons it is the largest hot air

balloon festival in the world. The fiesta is one of Albuquerque’s biggest tourist attractions and

generates a major source of income for the city and local businesses (Visit Albuquerque, n.d.).

In the Old Town, which both Native American and Spanish cultures have been shaping for more

than 300 years, visitors can enjoy the adobe-architecture and strolling around the tiny winding

streets with souvenir shops, art galleries and Native American artifact shops.

For excellent views of Albuquerque and the nearby Sandia Mountains, visitors can take a ride on

the Sandia Peak Tramway. Cable cars carry passengers three kilometers between eastern

Albuquerque and the summit of the Sandia Peak. On the top, people can enjoy the view or make

use of the many hiking trails.

Tourists interested in early American history can visit the Petroglyph National Monument. This

is a 7,236-acre park and home to more than 24,000 carved images by New Mexico’s first settlers.

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Albuquerque is also known for its Museum of Art and History and its Biological Park. The

museum educates visitors on 12 billion years of natural history and has also a planetarium and a

3-D film theater to offer. The Bio Park includes Albuquerque’s aquarium, the Rio Grande

Botanic Garden, the Rio Grande Zoo and Tingle Beach (NY Daily News, 2013).

3.5.2 Filming Locations

In the case of ‘Breaking Bad’ most of the filming locations are not considered as places of any

tourist interest at all. Many of them are just ordinary houses of which visitors only can see the

exterior, such as Walter White and his family’s house, Jesse Pinkman’s house, Gus Fring’s

house, Hank and Marie’s house, and so on. But of course walking around in Albuquerque

reminds the film tourist of his favourite show by which a need is satisfied. Other famous

locations amongst the ‘Breaking Bad’ fans to visit, are: ‘Los Pollos Hermanos’, a chain of fast

food restaurants, in real life better known as ‘Twisters’, which plays an important role in the

show; the office of lawyer Saul Goodman; Gus Fring’s industrial laundry business, which

actually is a methamphetamine laboratory cover up; Walter White’s money laundering ‘A1A car

wash’, better known as Albuquerque’s ‘Octopus Car Wash’; Tuco’s headquarters, filmed at a bar

called Java Joe’s. The only ‘Breaking Bad’ filming location that is a tourist attraction in itself is

the Navajo Nation Reservation, where the desert scenes were shot. The Navajo Nation is the

largest U.S. Indian tribe. The reservation counts with approximately 71,000 km2 and it exceeds

the boundaries of Arizona, Utah and New Mexico. It is also the home to national monuments,

tribal parks, historical sites and lakes. Many of the hotels, campgrounds or authentic Indian

accommodations are owned by the Navajo. The part of the Navajo Nation Reservation that lies in

New Mexico is called Tohajiilee, which is the section of the park used by ‘Breaking Bad’ and it

even gave its name to the 13th episode of the 5th season (Discover Navajo, n.d.).

3.5.3 Breaking Bad Inspired Products and Services

New Mexico’s official website for tourism doesn’t spend much attention to ‘Breaking Bad’.

They have a section on their website called ‘NM Film Trails’ dedicated to New Mexico’s role as

a popular filming location and mentions some of the latest film productions who used this

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southern American state as a backdrop. Three short lines is all they spend on this immensely

popular TV series. Albuquerque’s tourism website goes a lot further and on the main page

Breaking Bad’s Periodic Table logo pops up just above the ‘Film Tourism’ button. When clicked

the option ‘Breaking Bad in Albuquerque’ appears. Here an interactive ‘Breaking Bad’ locations

map can be found, created through Google maps. Actors of the show give their opinion about the

city and what it means to them. At the bottom of the page a selection of ‘Breaking Bad’ tours is

presented. ‘ABQ Trolley Co.’ is one of those companies who offer such a tour. It is a city-tour

company showing tourists, for 85 minutes in an open-air Trolley, the best of Albuquerque.

Consequently their most popular tour is called ‘Best of ABQ City Tour’, but they have also other

tours such as ‘The Ale Trail’, ‘Route 66 Neon Sign Tour’, ‘Sandia Sundown’ and of course ‘The

Bad Tour’. The last one obviously is dedicated to ‘Breaking Bad. The featured filming locations

on the tour include: Walter White’s house and condo, Jesse Pinkman’s house and duplex, Gus’s

house, the car wash, the laundry, Saul Goodman’s law office, Tuco’s Headquarters, the

Railyards, the Crossroads Motel and ‘Los Pollos Hermanos’, which is the only filming location

that can be entered as it is a public restaurant, namely Twisters, where a break will be held.

‘Routes’ offers bicycle rentals and tours throughout Albuquerque and also one dedicated to the

TV series, the ‘Biking Bad Tour’. This tour has five different versions: some focus more on a

certain character, others on a certain theme within the TV show, but all of them visit between 11

and 13 filming locations accessible by bike.

With the ‘Breaking Bad RV Tours’ people can re-live the experience in the RV (recreational

vehicle: trailer equipped with living space) just like the one used in the series (in the show Jesse

Pinkman’s RV becomes their first ‘meth lab’ and has turned into an important icon of the series).

The filming locations where the fans are taken to, are largely the same as the ones offered by the

other companies.

Some of Albuquerque’s hotels offer ‘Breaking Bad’ packages. Except from one or more nights

in a hotel, the package also includes a ‘Breaking Bad’ themed gift bag, containing: ‘Breaking

Bad’ themed stickers, coasters, postcards, matches and buttons; two packages of ‘Bathing Bad’

bath salts and ‘Los Pollos Hermanos’ seasoning salt from Great Face & Body; two packs of blue

‘crystal meth’ candy from The Candy Lady; a 15 percent discount in the previous mentioned

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stores. The hotel also offers two ‘Breaking Bad’ themed drinks and another discount coupon of

15 percent for local shops, restaurants, attractions and galleries in Albuquerque and Santa Fe.

As mentioned before the company Great Face & Body has created a line of bath products called

‘Bathing Bad’ along with a spice line named after ‘Los Pollos Hermanos’ from the series. That is

not all, they also offer ‘Breaking Bad’ cooking classes you learn how to cook the same ‘fake’

meth used in the show to represent Walter White’s blue meth.

Other ‘Breaking Bad’ inspired products are for example The Candy Lady’s blue meth inspired

candy. With the same source of inspiration Rebel Donut has created the ‘Blue Sky Donut’. The

Walter White character has also found his way to the Albuquerque’s Marble Brewery, which has

introduced two new beers inspired by the two sides of mister White: ‘Heisenberg’s Dark’ a black

ale which represents Walter’s dark side (Heisenberg becomes Walter’s pseudonym when the

drug business is getting rough) and ‘Walt’s White Lie’ a white ale which represents the family

man side of character. Not only beer has been created in honour of the series, the O’Niell’s pub

has come up with the ‘Breaking Blue’ cocktail.

3.5.4 Breaking Bad Inspired Promotion Campaign

Albuquerque hasn’t put up a ‘Breaking Bad’ inspired promotion campaign as for example

Northern Ireland did with the TV series ‘Game of Thrones’. Instead of Albuquerque, Belize used

the show to put itself in the spotlights as a tourist destination, although none of the show’s

episodes is set in this country. Actually the word is Belize is only used three times by the

Breaking Bad’s characters and only in one episode. In that particular episode lawyer Saul

Goodman asks Walter White if he has considered sending the D.E.A. (Drug Enforcement

Administration) agent Hank Schrader ‘on a trip to Belize’. With the ‘on a trip to Belize’ line the

Saul Goodman character refers to killing someone. Walter replies, “Send him to Belize? I’ll send

you to Belize!” This wasn’t the most flattering reference for the country, but even though the

Belize Tourism Board used the line in a creative way to convert something negative to

something positive. They immediately released a letter to the entire cast inviting them for a

relaxing visit after the season was over. This response drew further attention to the destination.

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The Belize Tourism Board sent tweets into the world relating the series to the country using the

‘on a trip to Belize’ line in a humorous way (Hardin, 2014). The marketing campaign won the

In2 SABRE Awards for best marketing buzz and digital influence as well as the best in show for

turning negative publicity to a great opportunity to promote Belize (Muñoz, 2014).

3.5.5 Breaking Bad’s Economic Impact

When the citizens of Albuquerque heard for the first time that their city would become the

backdrop of a drugs themed TV series, they thought it would give negative publicity to

Albuquerque, but they were wrong. ‘Breaking Bad’ has been very good to the city. Mega Ryan

(2013 cited in Baber, 2013), the tourism manager of Albuquerque’s convention and visitors

bureau said that: “The drugs and violence were the reasons we didn’t have anything to do with it

at first. Then we began to see the cult following in the U.S. and abroad, and the awards. It turned

a really dark subject into a great tool for awareness and visibility.”

According to Stewart Lyons, Breaking Bad’s production manager, the production employed

more than 100 New Mexicans and spent more than USD $1 million a week on equipment rentals,

fuel, food, wardrobe, hotel rooms and other resources for the film, cast and crew. Over the

filming period of the show, Ann Lerner, film liaison for Albuquerque’s economic development

department, estimates the series spent at least USD $50 million dollars on the city (Riley, 2012).

The previous mentioned ABQ Trolley Company has seen its clients grow from 3,000 the first

year to 8,000 in the third. The trolley tour company has noticed a 70 to 80 percent increase in

emails and phone calls from people interested in the ‘Breaking Bad’ themed tour (Riley, 2012).

On the other hand the Rebel Donut chain sold for a value of USD $10,000 their ‘Blue Sky’

‘Breaking Bad’ themed donut. The Candy Lady store declares to have sold 35,000 to 40,000

bags of blue ‘crystal meth’ candy in one year (Gaynor, 2013). Some cast members also bought

houses in Albuquerque to live in while they filming was going on, but now they state that they

want to keep it as they like the city.

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Over the years since the start of ‘Breaking Bad’ Albuquerque has become a popular tourist

destination, something that was previously unthinkable for a city that always came second after

New Mexico’s capital city Santa Fe. Now that the series is finished, the citizens of Albuquerque

are concerned that the end of ‘Breaking Bad’ will mean an end to the lucrative business.

Therefore companies who offer ‘Breaking Bad’ related products such as Guerrilla Graphix, who

states that their sales of t-shirts has gone up to 20 percent since the appearance of the series, react

very enthusiastic by the announcement that there will come a ‘Breaking Bad’ spin off series with

the name ‘Better call Saul’ that will also be filmed in Albuquerque.

3.5.6 Results Data Collection

In this part the results of the research will be exposed with the intention to do so as visual as

possible. All the following charts are based on the information that was gathered through

surveys. The first chunk of information shows us the profile of the tourists who visit

Albuquerque.

Chart 17 – Tourist Profile, Albuquerque

In this first chart, which reflects the tourist profile, only the results’ highest values are listed, this

to avoid an excess of charts which would arise if each investigated aspect of the tourist’s profile

would be displayed.

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Most tourists visiting Albuquerque are coming from North America (77.77%). The second

largest group are the European tourists (22.22%). Generally the tourists have an age between 35

and 49 (50.00%) followed by the age group 25-34 years old (25%) and 35-49 years old (25%).

Most of them travel with their partner (66.66%), with their family (22.22%) or in group

(11.11%). The cultural aspect of the trip is the most important as a motivation (18.75%) followed

by gastronomy (16.66%), shopping (16.66%), art historical heritage (16.66%), nice atmosphere

(16.66%) and interesting city (16.66%). As an information source most of the visitors use the

internet (25%). In second place comes the travel guide (20%) followed by friends and family

(15%). Half of the tourists uses the car as a mean of transports and forty percent the plane. The

most chosen type of accommodation is a hotel (44.44%) and bed and breakfast (22.22%).

Usually the visitors stay for a few days (75%) or just one day (12.50%). Shopping is the activity

where most money is spent on (46.15%) followed by tourist attractions (30.76%) and

gastronomy (15.38%).

Chart 18 – Increase in visitors since the appearance of ‘Breaking Bad’

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All the companies who offer accommodation see an increase in guests between 1 and 20 percent

since the appearance of the TV series. Tourist offices have even noted a growth between 21 and

40 percent. Half of the companies who offer ‘Breaking Bad’ related services of products have

noticed an increase between 1 and 20 percent. The other half says to have noted a growth

between 81 and 100 percent.

Chart 19 – Companies who offer Breaking Bad Activities

In case of the ‘Breaking Bad’ none of the companies offering activities or products related to the

series did emerge as a result of the TV show, and they all offer much more than just ‘Breaking

Bad’ activities or products.

Chart 20 – Breaking Bad’s influence on profits

All the companies who offer ‘Breaking Bad’ related activities or products state that they are

making profit since the appearance of the series. On the other hand 25 percent of the

accommodation companies claim to make more profit since the launch of the show.

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Chart 21 – Peak Season Albuquerque

Albuquerque’s peak season seems to be spread well through the year, with only less or no

activity in the three first months of the year.

Chart 22 – Breaking Bad as a promotion tool

Twenty-five percent of the surveyed companies (both accommodation offering companies as

tour organising companies) uses ‘Breaking Bad’ to promote their business.

Chart 23 – The Importance of Breaking Bad to visit Albuquerque

For 50 percent of Albuquerque’s visitors ‘Breaking Bad’ is the main reason to travel to the city.

For the other half the TV series is just secondary.

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Chart 24 – Tourist’s Level of Fanaticism: Breaking Bad

It seems that tourists who participate in ‘Breaking Bad’ related activities are all real fanatics,

knowing every little detail about the series.

The research that has been done, shows us that tourists visiting Albuquerque are coming mainly

from North America with their partner as a travel companion and are between 35 and 49 years

old. The main factors why they choose Albuquerque are not clearly pronounced although culture

seems to be the biggest driver. Information about the destination is gathered through online

sources and their favourite accommodation type is a hotel. They mostly stay for a few days and

spend their money on shopping.

Clearly there has been a remarkable increase in the number of visitors that Albuquerque is

receiving since the appearance of the TV series ‘Breaking Bad’. As a consequence of this

increase in the number of tourists, those companies are making more profit, agreed by all the

surveyed participants, but people who run hotels, bed and breakfasts, hostels, etc. seem to notice

this increase in profits to a lesser extent.

People who have opted for Albuquerque as their next holiday destination after watching the

show ‘Breaking Bad’ seem to consider the series as the main reason to visit the city, but there is

also interest towards other tourist attractions. For others the TV show is secondary, the main

motif is the destination in itself. Those who choose ‘Breaking Bad’ tours and other activities are

usually real die-hard fans, who know every little detail about the show.

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4. CONCLUSION

After going through a literature review about film-induced tourism and a practical case study one

can say that film, or in this specific case TV series, do have an impact on tourism and the filming

locations. TV series can influence and convince such a huge amount of people to visit a certain

destination that a TV show in itself can become a promotion tool. Therefore countries, regions or

cities who want to boost their tourism industry, should consider attracting film production

companies by giving them special advantages or a better deal then other countries, regions or

cities. For example the producers of ‘Breaking Bad’ at first wanted to set the series in California,

but because of a tax advantage in New Mexico they took the series to Albuquerque. Something

similar happened in the case of ‘Game of Thrones’. Both Northern Ireland and Scotland were

considered as a filming location, but in the end Scotland lost the battle and the film production

company chose Northern Ireland, who is now reaping all the profits. As one can see, it can be

very important to create a film friendly environment to convince the producers to opt for a

specific location.

The practical case study shows that indeed an increase in visitors is noted when a location is used

in a TV series and that is not all. Companies related to tourism have also seen their profits grow

even companies or small businesses which are not active in the tourism industry, but just because

they have created products related to a TV show. This demonstrates that many companies

anticipate to exploit the new appearing rages. Some tour offering businesses, although a

minority, have emerged only because of a result of film tourism. And it is not only about the

money that tourists spend, the film production itself also supports the local economy

substantially during the shooting days.

The research that has been done also indicates that for film tourists, in many cases the TV series

is not the only reason to visit a destination. Most of them show also a widespread of interest

towards other tourist attractions. Therefore it seems that series make people aware of the

existence and/or the beauty of a certain location, even on an unconscious way. ‘Breaking Bad’

viewers hear so many times the name Albuquerque during the show, that when it comes to

planning the next holiday people might say “hey why don’t we go to Albuquerque this year”. In

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the case of ‘Game of Thrones’ the viewer might get inspired to visit the beautiful landscapes of

Northern Ireland, for a lot of its nature is showed in the TV series. Many people visiting the

destination are already satisfied if they can enjoy the beautiful landscapes very similar to the

ones in the show, without having the need to see the exact location of a specific scene. Just as in

‘Downton Abbey’ the viewers discover through the series the beauty of Highclere Castle and

plan to visit it on their next holiday, but that doesn’t mean that they want to know where exactly

Lady Mary has drunken her tea. TV series can give people ideas and inspiration on where to go

on their next trip, without the necessity of being that hard-core fan.

It can be said that when a certain location is used in a TV series, that series works as a huge

promotion campaign for the featured location. A promotion campaign set up by marketers can

only achieve the same impact as the series does, when spending an enormous amount of money.

Therefore one can conclude that TV series are very powerful and cheap tools to promote a tourist

destination.

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6. APPENDICES

6.1 Appendix 1: survey directed to official tourist boards

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6.2 Appendix 2: survey directed to companies who offer TV series related services or

products

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6.3 Appendix 3: survey directed to accommodation companies

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