Film-Induced Tourism

Citation

Reichenberger, I. (2018), "Film-Induced Tourism", Journal of Tourism Futures, Vol. 4 No. 1, pp. 107-108. https://doi.org/10.1108/JTF-11-2017-0048

Sue Beeton’s Film-Induced Tourism, published in 2016 as part of Channel View’s “Aspects of Tourism” series, is a much needed update from the original 2005 first edition. Film tourism now receives much greater attention, also due to its increasing popularity amongst visitors that extends so far that some destinations are struggling to cope with tourist demand. Croatia’s Dubrovnik, for example, starring as “King’s Landing” in the television series Game of Thrones, risks losing its UNESCO world heritage status due to increased visitor numbers partly attributed to the global success of the series and is planning to restrict the number of visitors allowed in its historical center (Morris, 2017). While Beeton’s first edition provided a somewhat equally distributed overview of the different perspectives on film tourism, it is, therefore, not only fitting but much needed that the second edition reviewed here expands on certain themes especially in regards to the relationship between film tourism and local communities. Up-to-date insight is required, both for successful destination planning and development and for researchers to conduct their work in a more targeted and efficient manner. While the book does not clearly state a particular aim, it is targeted towards postgraduate students and researchers and provides a thorough introduction to the complexities of Film-Induced Tourism with the underlying purpose to support further research.

Film-Induced Tourism consists of four parts. After a revised preface to include more detailed insight into underlying theoretical constructs and research methodologies, Part 1 provides an introduction by outlining different forms of film tourism and discussing a variety of perspectives that set the tone for later sections. New chapters on the longevity and study of film tourism have been added to discuss related progress over the last decade. Part 2 focuses specifically on on-location film tourism and its relation to destination image, marketing and promotion and extensively addresses the effects of film tourism on tourism in general and on communities in particular. Picking up on the increasing demand and its related challenges as outlined at the beginning of this review, power relations in film tourism are discussed in detail by outlining numerous international case studies, providing much needed insight into the challenges associated with successful community planning in the context of film tourism. Part 3 then considers off-location film tourism, such as events, film studios and theme parks, finishing with a conclusion in Part 4 that outlines emerging issues and future directions in film tourism and related research. While the book’s structure in comparison to the first edition remains much the same, many sections have been expanded upon by adding more detail, new examples and new perspectives.

One of the strengths of the book is the predominant use of case studies providing insight into practical developments and challenges. This, combined with an autoethnographic perspective, makes for an enjoyable, personal and relatable read. While on first glance, it may seem as if the film tourists themselves are being somewhat neglected, their perspectives are being included throughout the book covering various angles, thus exploring the phenomenon of Film-Induced Tourism from a number of different stakeholder perspectives. Extensive consideration of both the supply and demand side within numerous different contexts makes for a well-rounded, compact and fluid book. Especially, the potential negative impacts on film tourism in the community context are more dominant, thus providing a necessary overview of challenges and associated potential solutions that would make Film-Induced Tourism also relevant for practitioners.

A weakness may perhaps be found in the contribution the book makes to our understanding of the future of tourism. Although Part 4 is titled “Emerging issues and future directions,” this mostly serves the purpose to summarize and highlight areas in need of further research but does not necessarily indicate how the author may consider the development of film tourists and the film tourism industry in years to come. Some components such as the need to keep up with the development of social and cultural changes and potential areas of future demand are touched upon, yet the author has been cautious in grounding arguments based on the prior contents of the book. It must be added though that a more detailed or critical future outlook was not part of the book’s aims.

In summary, Sue Beeton’s new edition of Film-Induced Tourism provides a necessary and fresh outlook while being simultaneously complex, well researched and entertaining. Perhaps, a future revision may be able to adopt a more international perspective to provide readers with examples that are better known outside of the predominantly Australasian-based research environment – the continuous increase in related publications is promising!