Films continue to draw visitors
Friday, 18th March 2011
40% OF TOURISTS SAY THEY WANT TO VISIT LOCATIONS THEY SEE IN FILMS
VisitBritain’s chief executive, Sandie Dawe, will today deliver the keynote speech at this year’s “London International Film Tourism Conference” at BAFTA to highlight the appeal of ‘set-jetting’ in Britain.
A successful high budget film in its opening three weeks can expect to be seen by over 120 million people worldwide- offering a fantastic showcase of Britain. And recent films have demonstrated that they deliver a real increase in visitor numbers.
VisitBritain has worked on many successful movie tie-ins over the last 15 years including Bond, Robin Hood, Bollywood films, Sherlock Holmes and Harry Potter. We have produced movie- maps, dedicated micro-sites, costume displays, money can’t buy movie experiences and smart phone apps dedicated to help tourists explore destinations they have seen on film.
Britain's landscapes and unrivalled social and sporting calendar make for perfect backdrops in films. Centuries of history and our heritage and traditions all combine to make Britain an ideal location for filming and all in a relatively small geographic area.
The depth of experiences to be discovered here have all lured film-makers to Britain. Regional filming locations also offer us the perfect opportunity to promote the whole of Britain and not just the obvious hot spots such as London or Edinburgh. For example our work on the recent Robin Hood blockbuster starring Russell Crowe played a significant part in a 5.5% rise in visitors to the region of Nottingham- up to 500,000.
VisitBritain also works closely with major studios such as Universal Pictures, Warner Brothers and Sony Pictures with local screen commissions and international consumer brand partners to ensure that we leverage the wonderful locations seen in the films.
A few success stories:
Alice in Wonderland:
18th Century Cornish Mansion saw visitors quadruple from 25,000 to 100,000
Pirates of the Caribbean:
Visitors to the Old Royal College at Greenwich increased by 13% last year to more than 1.27 million
Harry Potter:
Alnwick castle saw visitors increase by 230% with a benefit of up to £9million extra spend due to the ‘Potter effect’
Sandie Dawe, Chief Executive of VisitBritain said: “The link between tourism and films is a potent one and one that we must continue to exploit. Just under half of our potential visitors to Britain want to visit places they have seen featured in films or TV- so we are doing everything we can to capitalise on this ‘set-jetting phenomenon.”
ENDS
For further information, please contact: Mark Di-Toro, Corporate Press Officer on 020 7578 1098 or 07919 392 137
· VisitBritain, the national tourism agency, is responsible for inspiring the world to explore Britain and for developing the UK’s visitor economy.
· Every year 12million visits are made by international consumers to the 30 websites that make up VisitBritain’s global family of websites, www.visitbritain.com, which together provide information in 21 different languages.
· VisitBritain is a Non-Departmental Public Body whose prime sponsor is the Department for Culture, Media and Sport
· Follow us on twitter @VisitBritainBiz or our consumer Twitter @VisitBritain and www.facebook.com/loveUK
