5. Film Tourist Tribes

Geographic film locations have received much attention in tourism as toured, managed and experienced sites. The emerging societal element however demonstrates that film tourists are not solely geographically bound. Importantly, film tourist tribes have an extended temporal engagement, there is greater involvement (demonstrated by film value and identity), and they are socially interactive (with other tribal members). Definitionally, social interaction and film involvement are central to the film tourist tribe, and consequently level of tribal membership. That is, geographic film locations are simply the physical realisation of the tribe, yet not the full representation of it. Importantly, touring is still crucial, distinguishing film tourist tribes from fan-tribes. Film tourist tribes are populated by the continuum of film tourists. At the core is a small yet highly interactive and intense group, surrounded by the periphery that have a continuing, though more tenuous, bond to the tribe off-site. The tribe is surrounded by a larger territorial community, with no societal connection beyond the film location, which is surrounded by an even larger non-film tourist group. This chapter contributes societal interaction and film involvement dimensions to characterise film tourists, enabling a greater understanding of film tourists and film tourism.