From the small screen to the silver screen, England has been the backdrop to many of our favourite films and TV shows. VisitBritain’s research shows that films and TV are powerful motivators for travel. With almost a third of potential visitors to the UK keen to visit places seen-on-screen, film tourism continues to be an exciting, growing and valuable part of our national tourism offer.
In 2015, Olsberg SPI produced a report quantifying Film and Television Tourism in England for Creative England and in association with VisitEngland. The report looks at the impact of screen tourism across England outside of London and shows that our filming locations are attracting domestic and overseas visitors in abundance.
The research surveyed visitors at eight locations across the country: Alnwick Castle (famously home to Harry Potter’s Hogwarts), the village of Bampton (Downton Abbey), West Bay (Broadchurch), Castle Howard (Brideshead Revisited, Death Comes to Pemberley), Holkham (Shakespeare in Love, The Duchess), Lyme Park (Pride and Prejudice, The Awakening) Puzzlewood (Merlin, Doctor Who) and Wollaton Hall (The Dark Knight Rises).
The eight locations were carefully chosen to represent a cross-section of sites, spanning different areas of England, different types of location and different types of screen production. Screen tourists were detected at all of the eight sites surveyed for this project. While the volume varied significantly, the value at some sites was highly significant
Film and TV productions can be a powerful way to add profile to a nation’s tourism offer, both at home and abroad – they can help to showcase a country’s natural and cultural assets; inform, inspire and influence travel decisions and help to market and grow local visitor economies.
Download our Screen Tourism Toolkit below to see the guidance and case studies for potential filming locations on how to maximise the potential of screen tourism.
