Change of location

Such is the pulling power of the moving image that a film can affect our choice of holiday destination. Fenella Willis finds out more about the "set-jetting" phenomenon

Who hasn't at some point in their cinema-going history wished it could be them up there on the screen, with that breathtaking scenery and stirring soundtrack? Statistics prove that we are swayed by a film producer's choice of location. The phone system at travel company Western & Oriental was jammed with enquiries about Ranch America when City Slickers came out. Alnwick Castle (Hogwarts) welcomes hordes of Harry Potter fans. The Motorcycle Diaries prompted an increase in visitors to Bolivia. And, surprisingly, cruise bookings shot up in the wake of Titanic.

Some film buffs claim it started with Robert Flaherty's award-winning 1934 documentary Man of Aran, which first brought adventure tourists to the Aran Islands. Most like to feel a sense of connection with the places they visit, be it recognising the lie of the land or standing in the spot where a scene took place: Meg Ryan's "I'll have what she's having" diner; Notting Hill's blue door (repainted due to over-exposure); the Lancashire station featured in Brief Encounter; the Cobb at Lyme Regis, haunted by Meryl Streep.

As The Beatles proved with their Abbey Road album cover, an image—particularly when  endorsed by a celebrity—can create a cult destination. Location-spotting may not be the sole reason for choosing a holiday, but it gives focus to a trip as well as bragging rights.

Research by Halifax Travel Insurance indicates that more than one in four Brits—and up to 45 per cent of 16- to 24-year-olds—let a book, film or TV series influence their travel plans. A film does not have to be a box-office hit for the set-jetters to start booking their flights, nor does it have to be filmed where it's set.

Tourist boards and travel firms are producing dedicated websites, movie maps and tours, and developing countries are increasingly promoting their film-location credentials. Not all titles translate into big bucks—some iconic films attract diehard fans rather than high-spending tourists—but for most locations, a screen appearance is better advertising than money can buy, as these 10 examples show.

The Lake District, England
Miss Potter
Beatrix Potter's charming books begat an entire tourist trade of their own, thanks in part to the author leaving 4,000 acres of the Lake District to the National Trust. If Miss Potter, Renée Zellweger's latest flick, doesn't give a serious boost to the region's post-foot-and-mouth visitor figures, we'll eat our poke bonnets. "By coming here, people can feel that they're stepping into the storybooks and seeing beyond the pictures they've seen on the screen," says Liz Hunter, house and collections manager at Hill Top, Potter's home in Near Sawrey, and The Beatrix Potter Gallery in Hawkshead. "We expect a peak of interest this year from the European and US market, but the film isn't released in Japan until September." So 2008 should see the odd coach party, too.

Cephalonia, Greece
Captain Corelli's Mandolin
Louis de Berniere's best-selling novel had already got Middle England interested in the Greek island of Cephalonia, but it is proof of Hollywood's power that it was the 2001 big-screen effort starring Nicholas Cage and Penélope Cruz that prompted thousands of holidaymakers (85 per cent of them British) to "escape" there. Some travel firms reported a 75 per cent rise in bookings when the film was released. The inhabitants, initially anxious about the detrimental effect on their idyll, somehow absorbed the influx. Sadly, according to Barry Cope of Oneira Holidays, the south of the island with its sandy beaches just isn't Cephalonia any more. "It's full of the kind of villa developments you see everywhere in Spain. You've got to go to the north for small, unspoilt villages," he says. 

Salzburg, Austria
The Sound of Music
Over 40 years after the film's release, around 300,000 hotel bookings a year in Salzburg can still be attributed to the Sound of Music. The majority of fans come from the UK, US and Asia; and with the musical always on stage somewhere in the world, there is little prospect of the flood drying up. Last year saw an increase in British visitors, presumably thanks to the TV saga of Andrew Lloyd Webber solving his Maria problem, and Connie Fisher's stage success will be sending yet more fans to the Mirabell Gardens, St Peter's Cemetery and the Benedictine Convent on Nonnberg (not forgetting the Trapp Family Lodge in Vermont). Three firms run special tours morning and afternoon, but don't be surprised if the Salzburgers themselves look bemused: most of them haven't seen the film, as it wasn't shown on Austrian TV until 2001.

Paris, London, Roslin
The Da Vinci Code
The "Da Vinci Code effect" was in evidence at the Louvre and other key sites long before the Tom Hanks film came out in 2006, but the latter prompted a massive publicity campaign—and record profits at Rosslyn Chapel in Midlothian. With its two main markets, London and Paris, starring in the film, Eurostar was quick to jump on the gravy train, joining forces with Sony Pictures, VisitBritain, VisitScotland and the French tourist board to lure as many Grail-seekers as possible. Eurostar's head of press and events, Lesley Retallack, says that Dan Brown's novel is still its most common item of lost property, outnumbering Harry Potter books by a factor of 10. "We'll still be feeling the effects three or four years down the line," she predicts, "particularly with the international market."

Santa Barbara, US
Sideways
After this multi-award-winning road-trip buddy movie became the surprise hit of 2004, 14 per cent of British adults surveyed said they wanted to visit California wine country. Wine-tasting enquiries in the Santa Barbara area rose by 30 per cent—even more in the actual wineries featured. Sideways addicts have been stopping off at Miles's favourite restaurant, The Hitching Post II in Buellton, ever since. And the film had just as dramatic an effect on the wine trade: American Pinot Noir sales spiked in 2005, while sales of Merlot dropped. But as one beneficiary said at the time, "You can't take the last six months and extrapolate that out for the next 10 years."

Tokyo, Japan
Lost in Translation
Shot mainly in Tokyo's two most vibrant entertainment districts, Shinjuk and Shibuya, and first screened in the UK at the end of 2003, Sofia Coppola's bittersweet, Oscar-winning film starring Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson must take its share of the credit for the 28 per cent rise in British visitors to Japan the following April. The effect is waning but Jaltour, the tour operator section of Japan Airlines, still receives calls from people wanting to stay at the Park Hyatt Hotel (featured in the movie) and includes several of the locations in its Discover Japan package.

New Zealand
Lord of the Rings
Director Peter Jackson is a hero in New Zealand, not least for what he has done to raise awareness of the country's spectacular scenery. Although the tourist authority doesn't push the Lord of the Rings connection heavily, almost all visitors know that the films were shot there, and many stop off en route between Auckland and Rotorua to visit Hobbiton. According to Melissa Heath of Wanaka Sightseeing, one of the operators offering Middle-earth tours, "some smaller communities such as Matamata and Glenorchy have seen a dramatic increase in tourism. The local population is utterly mystified by the continuing interest." Bookings with her company have risen 30 per cent annually for the last four years and the bubble doesn't look like bursting soon.

Iowa, US
Field of Dreams
"Is this heaven? No, it's Iowa." But for lovers of the Kevin Costner baseball weepy, a ballpark outside the town of Dyersville is a little patch of heaven. A studio built it, and the tourists came-in droves (over 800,000 at the last count). The owner of most of the field kept it intact after filming and installed a souvenir hut. The farmer who owned the rest initially ploughed up his portion but was persuaded to restore it a year later, and set up a rival souvenir hut for good measure. The best time of year to visit is late summer, when the site most resembles the scene where the ghost players disappear into the cornfield. Such is the mystique of the place that there's even a book on the subject by Brett Mandel.

Alberta, Canada
Brokeback Mountain
Set in Wyoming but filmed in the stunning Canadian Rockies, the star-crossed-cowboys movie has acted as a cinematic travel brochure for both destinations. Tourism authorities in Alberta are capitalising on the fuss, and tour operators worldwide are offering Brokeback-themed tours to the Calgary area (Lion Travel in Taipei even offered a discount to same-sex couples sharing a bed). Part tour guide, part "armchair travel" resource, the website FindingBrokeback.com receives 10,000 hits a week. Co-founder Jim Bond says that he often encounters film tourists, from couples to buses of Japanese enthusiasts. "You know you have found a kindred spirit when you are standing in front of a grocery store or a vacant lot and three other people are there, wistfully staring at the same spot."

Pennan, Scotland
Local Hero
Braveheart's majestic scenery may have dramatically increased footfall at the Wallace Monument in Stirling; but Bill Forsyth's quirky, lower-budget 1983 film had its own effect. Fans continue to visit the little white-washed Aberdeenshire village of Pennan. The inn has benefited financially over the years, but when the owner was refused permission to paint it blue she complained of being forced to live in a film set. Just as Local Hero undermines the idyllic Scottish stereotype, its setting is more prosaic in reality: the famous red phone box from which Mac describes the Northern Lights to his boss doesn't exist, and the golden sands are on the other side of the country. But this doesn't seem to deter the faithful.

 

TV Tourism: 10 cult series that have changed the world they were set in

Monarch of the Glen
Based on the novel by Compton Mackenzie, this BBC serial drama brings an annual £2m to the Scottish Highlands. Some shops in Newtonmore have even changed their name to match their screen counterpart.

Twin Peaks
Damn fine coffee and cherry pie at the "Double R" Diner is just one attraction on the tourist trail to Snoqualmie and North Bend in Washington, the main filming locations of David Lynch's iconic 1990s series.

Little Britain
Thousands of Dafydd fans visit Llandewi Breffi in Wales, even though "the only gay in the village" sketches were not filmed there. The village—six of whose signposts were stolen last year—may become a conservation area.

Hawaii Five-0
"The show brought Hawaii to the world and the world then visited Hawaii," said Rose Freeman, wife of the hit's creator and producer Leonard Freeman. The Hawaiian island of Oahu now hosts the series Lost.

The Prisoner
Every March, Six of One (The Prisoner Appreciation Society) books the entire village of Portmeirion in North Wales for its annual convention. Human Chess is played in tribute to the enigmatic 1970s TV series.

Sex and the City
"Drink where they drink, shop where they shop, and gossip where they gossip". One way to see New York is to don your designer labels and follow in the stilettos of Carrie, Miranda, Samantha and Charlotte.

Cheers
A cameo appearance in the opening sequence of the show, and the façade of Boston's former Bull & Finch now attracts so many visitors it's unlikely anyone will know your name.

Neighbours
Soap devotees make their pilgrimage to Melbourne's unremarkable cul-de-sac Pin Oak Court in Vermont South (aka Ramsay Street), and to the museum's plaster replica of Scott and Charlene's 1987 wedding cake.

Brideshead Revisited
The 1980s TV series with Anthony Andrews and Jeremy Irons has generated millions for its location, Castle Howard, now one of Britain's top tourist attractions. A Hollywood remake is in the offing.

Last of the Summer Wine
The Pennine town of Holmfirth, West Yorkshire, receives some 250,000 visitors a year, due in large part to this long-running sitcom—and to Heartbeat, which is filmed in the same area.

Doing it by the book: Five books that have sent readers packing

The No.1 Ladies Detective Agency
The exploits of Precious Ramotswe—Africa's Miss Marple—in Alexander McCall Smith's charming series of books are estimated to have given Botswana a four per cent tourist boost.

Cannery Row
In homage to John Steinbeck—and appreciation of his fans—the wise city planners and developers of Monterey preserved the industrial ambience of the former sardine-canning district.

Gone With the Wind
The book and blockbuster movie together account for a steady flow of global Scarlett-lovers to Atlanta, 71 years after the book's publication. The Margaret Mitchell House and Museum attracts 45,000 visitors every year.

Ulysses
Literary types throng the streets and pubs of Dublin every 16 June-the place and day on which, over a century ago, all the action of James Joyce's iconic novel took place—to retrace the footsteps of the protagonist Leopold Bloom.

A Year in Provence
The first of Peter Mayle's rosé-tinted memoirs, translated into 30 languages, brought a tidal wave of tourists to the region. The impact of A Good Year—the critically unacclaimed film starring Russell Crowe—remains to be seen.