Blockbuster movies are the reason why almost half of tourists want to visit the UK. VisitBritain statistics show that 40% of visitors want to visit locations they see in films.
Chief executive Sandie Dawe today delivered 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 big budget film can expect to be seen by more than 120 million people worldwide in its opening three weeks. Recent films have demonstrated that they deliver a real increase in visitor numbers.
The 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, according to the tourism agency.
An 18th century Cornish mansion featured in Alice n Wonderland saw visitors quadruple from 25,000 to 100,000 and visitors to the Old Royal College at Greenwich increased by 13% last year to more than 1.27 million after it appeared in Pirates of the Caribbean.
Alnwick castle saw visitors increase by 230% with a benefit of up to £9 million extra spend due to its appearance in Harry Potter films.
Dawe 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.”