From the serpentine Gotthard pass in the Swiss Alps, which starred Goldfinger, to the striking scenery featured in White Lotus, adding Hawaiian golden hours and cliff-hugging Sicilian coastlines, some Wanderlust movies, and TV series. Takeoff goes beyond just seeing a remarkable movie location or a cinematic bypass on an itinerary. It’s about how movies and screens motivate audiences to pack their bags and explore cinematic destinations in genuine life.
Travel corporations have taken note of a strong build-up in film tourism in recent years: In 2022, Expedia named movie tourism as a trend in publishing, and the site’s 2025 trend report revealed that a third of TV videos and exhibitions in 2025 have influenced its s.
Film Tourism is one of the most effective teams to advertise a destination, Marta Soligo, director of tourism and professor of tourism and sociology of recreation at the University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV), told Forbes.
“Unlike a billboard advertising a vacation spot, which is limited to an Express geographic location and would be displayed for a limited time, videos and TV screens that offer a much wider reach, as they can be international and over time. “
Here’s what you want to know about movie tourism and how it influences those of us who travel.
Film tourism has gained a lot of buzz in recent years, what tourism calls the “white lotus” effect. The care of life grew when other people were at the house’s pandemic broadcast exhibits taking position in idyllic locations, adding the first season of HBO’s White’s White’s White’s White Lotus to the shores of Hawaii and filmed at the Four Seasons Maui Resort in Wailea.
Season 2 of White Lotus filmed at the Palazzo San Domenico Taormina, a Four Seasons hotel.
“Set launch, as it’s called, has become a massive driving force of tourism,” says Debra Loew of Kensington Tours, a luxury company that specializes in custom-designed personal tours. White Lotus is a wonderful example of this through the exhibition of the destinations where it shoots as an essential facet of the story and the general series. Interest in Sicily increased after Season 2 and we are already seeing interest in Thailand even before the new season starts.
But movie tourism is nothing new in this decade. In fact, this kind of emerged after World War II as the film and television industries have become increasingly popular, and other people gradually began to see their favorite movie spots, Soligo says.
Ranch types have also long benefited from Western movies, long before the breakdown of good fortune from exhibits like Yellowstone.
“From a rancher’s point of view of a kind, the explosion of westerns on the big screen and on television has put the emphasis on tourism in the West, as well as cowboys, horses, and ranches,” says Russell True, managing spouse of the True Ranch Collection and owner of White Stallion Ranch in Tucson. Arizona, which was the location of the television series High Chaparral (1968-72). “Travelers were looking for them to delight in the desert, Western culture and meet genuine cowboys. “
Western has long helped the ranch market from ranches like White Stallion Ranch in Tuscon, Arizona.
True remembers a time in the early 1990s when his mother called him at her workplace to ask if he knew anything about a movie called City Slickers. I was getting calls from other people looking for a treat like the one shown in Billy Crystal West. The comedy, which was a real problem, was about a campaign of farm animals.
“This film has brought single-handedly cattle farming to the forefront of Western holidays,” he says. “The wonderful thing that we still didn’t have to do anything answering our phones. “
Beyond Hollywood, several destinations have made strategic investments to attract film crews.
A wonderful example is Georgia, which has become a very sensible destination for film and television productions, with movie locations ranging from the Blue Ridge Mountains and historic Savannah squares to the backdrop of Atlanta’s major cities.
Some major titles filmed in the state of P come with Forrest Gump, the Hunger Games, and the weirdest things, and it has attracted travelers to stop at filming locations, giving a kind of tourism to the local communities.
Fountain in Forsyth Park, Savannah. La Georgia, has a premier filming destination for videos and TV shows.
“Having an effect on film tourism extends long after the cameras remain on,” Jay Markwalter, director of state tourism for the Georgia Department of Economic Development and Explores Georgia, told Forbes.
Destinations in Georgia are taking advantage of the long-term economic benefits of the landmark by providing exclusive reports for visitors to walk in the footsteps of their favorite stars and explore iconic landmarks they’ve noticed on screen, he says.
An example of good staging: downtown Senoia, Georgia, which is the main filming location for the zombie apocalypse shown in The Walking Dead, leaves six storefronts in 2011 to 150 in 2023 as a result of the good fortune of the AMC program.
Another anecdote: When Crazy Rich Asians was released in 2018, tourism officials saw that Biological Singapore-seeking interest higher than three times in the United States, according to Google search data when the film was released.
Being fictional, the film reflects the whole of Singapore or the lives of Singaporeans in general, says Eileen Lee, senior vice president of the Singapore Tourism Board, Americas.
“But the engaging story with Famend Singapore, like Marina Bay Sands, Newton Hawker Center, Gardens across the Bay and Chijmes, dropped that iconic wedding scene, piqued the interest of viewers, especially in North American markets,” he says. “It shows the presentation of the wedding scene. City-State in a that celebrates Singapore’s culture, food and attractions. “
Skyline and view of Singapore from Marina Bay to Twilight.
The film exhibition continues to attract visitors to Singapore today.
While there’s no express formula for what makes a silver screen with City a tourist boom city, destinations are looking to capitalize on interest in TV exhibits and videos deserve to enhance the discussion with specific film productions and brand operations, Soligo says.
In Las Vegas, the MGM Grand Hotel
Destinies have also been controlled to nostalgia.
Adermatt, Switzerland, for example, marked Goldfinger’s 60th anniversary, embracing its James Bond connection with themed packages at the Chedi Andermatt, such as the personal car drives along the Gotthard Pass, the remarkable road where Bond’s iconic chase scene took place, and driving reports. with high-end sports cars reminiscent of those noted in the film.
Film tourism can have negative effects on local cultures and environments.
On the upside, it can generate profits for destinations even after filming is complete. For example, Toursbylocals runs a popular Game of Thrones excursion in Dubrovnik that is led through guides who worked as extras in the program, adding an exclusive layer of insider information to delights and providing smaller excursion opportunities to the larger ones that obstruct the small walkways in the walled city.
Game of Thrones drew masses of tourists to see the walled city of Dubrovnik.
“When enthusiasts stop by Put like Dubrovnik for Game of Thrones or the Scottish Highlands for Outlander, they’re not only exploring iconic filming locations, they’re engaging with locals who share non-public stories, old ideas, and cultural backgrounds,” says Sara Cooke, Director of Communications with ToursbyLocals.
Unfortunately, recent years have seen negative trends in terms of overload, Soligo says.
In Thailand, for example, officials close Maya Bay for 3 years starting in 2018 so that the ecosystem can recover. coral reefs.
Aerial view of Maya Bay from Krabi, Thailand. Thai officials had to close the beach for 3 years to let the ecosystem heal after the suntourism increased the 2000 film “The Beach. “
For destinations that carry out activities of plans to do tourism, it is striking that banditism and the prioritization of tourist infrastructure can interrupt the cultural fabric.
One of the oldest examples of film tourism that Soligo issues to is Roman Holiday, which was launched in 1953 and still draws tourists to its iconic locations in Rome. Other more recent notable examples are The Lord of the Rings in New Zealand and Harry Potter in the United Kingdom.
Expedia’s recent peak knowledge shows a 30% year-over-year construction in Dubai after Dubai’s real housewives were freed.
Dubai Marina Panorama. Dubai’s real housewives have piqued the destination’s interest, to Expedia.
Meanwhile, the UK remains a popular launch destination thanks to uploads of Bridgerton, Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, and Outlander-themed Tours that have sprouted. And Ridley Scott’s Gladyor 2 introduced its interest in Malta.
Want to see movie tourism for yourself? Here are more movie tourism destinations around the world.
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