Film Tourism in Asia

Film allows an audience to imagine what travel and movement might potentially be like. This not only includes sights, attractions and experiences but extends to the possible impacts that travel might have on a person. This latter idea encompasses the concept of travel to a specific place being transformative. In the past, India was often represented in film in historical terms. However, in recent times, there has been a trend towards showing India and Indian culture in modern terms, characterised by the contrasts between the old and the new. Such changes also extend to cinematic representations of the mobility of the Indian diaspora. This chapter explores such issues through an analysis of recent films involving modern India. Three films are examined as case studies. The first two consider Westerners journeying to India. These are The Darjeeling Limited (2007) and The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2011). The third film, UnIndian (2015), considers mobilities and the Indian diaspora. All three films represent different images of modern India and have underlying themes of travel as transformative and life changing.

India is the largest film producer in the world, annually producing more than 1800 films. Unsurprisingly, efforts to exploit film tourism have emerged at a national, state and business level. This chapter enhances the understanding of India’s film tourism and efforts to establish a film tourism destination. These efforts included greater coordination between national and state governments to attract and facilitate film production. Added is a tourism strategy emphasis, in part, on film tourism, coupled with the added use of film in tourism promotions. Film tourism is an evident phenomenon around the country, though mostly at film studio locations. Other accounts provide limited support for an effect on tourist demand and lack of film-specific tourist attractions. However, the vast Indian film presence indicates subtle roles in tourism, establishing or reinforcing perceptions and stirring motivations to visit the range of pre-established attractions across the country. Future research on the subtle role of film on India’s tourists and the filmic representations of the people is recommended. Overall, film tourism in India has much emerging potential.

This study presents a general background to film tourism in China. Film tourism is the inevitable result of socio-economic development, especially when consistent with state policies and the development of a consumer-led economy. Based on a representative case study, that of Grand View Garden, we aim to reflect on the development of Chinese film tourism within the past 30 years. Films not only move audiences but can motivate them to see and experience the relevant sites. Additionally, in the Chinese context, film tourism has come to require both local administrations and film industries to make popular films and TV series that can serve as an effective marketing tool to promote destinations in ways consistent with local and national policies.

This chapter is dedicated to tourism induced by the Japanese morning drama (asadora), a very popular genre since the early 1960s. Based on a review of Western and Japanese theories of audience participation and film tourism as well as on field research on the filming location of one recent asadora, we investigate the phenomenon of film tourism from a multi-stakeholder perspective, thereby considering the following participants: the fans as active audience, the media producers and their marketing strategies and the local communities which provide the filming locations and implement strategies for the development of film tourism. For the latter, we suggest to differentiate more clearly between the distinct parties involved. Through this more nuanced view, it becomes clear why the planning and organisation of film tourism can become a double-edged sword. General insights on the opportunities and risks of film tourism make this case study relevant also beyond the Japanese context.

Arguably, one of the most significant factors influencing the development of tourism on Phi Phi Island, Thailand, was the filming of The Beach in 1998. The Beach, based upon the novel by Alex Garland in 1996, describes a backpacker’s quest for an island utopia. Ironically, the novel was not intended to celebrate backpacker culture but to criticise it. On Phi Phi, the primary filming location, both the book and the subsequent film opened the floodgates to millions more backpackers to join the multitude already making their way along the well-trodden tourist trail. In the period prior to and during the filming, the controversy surrounding The Beach was tremendous amongst environmental activists and the media. This chapter explores the debates and controversies surrounding the impact of Fox’s decision to film The Beach on Phi Phi and draws upon longitudinal field research to map the nature of tourism development from the point of filming to the present day. Has The Beach gone full circle?

This chapter aims to analyse and discuss how the tourist experience has been transformed over time in Ubud, Bali, in part by the impacts of the Hollywood film Eat Pray Love (EPL). A sudden influx of EPL-motivated tourists has resulted in dramatic and long-lasting changes to the existing tourism products and activities offered in loco. A subsequent change in the role and function of places to facilitate these new tourism products and activities is noticeable, changes that have also altered the experiences of tourists. The most significant changes that have taken place as a result of the impacts of the film EPL are twofold: the commodification of agricultural places and the commodification of social practices and sacred rituals. During this process, new hybrid forms of tourism experiences have been created, which have in turn led to the enrichment of the tourism experiences on offer in Ubud. A longitudinal autoethnographic approach was employed using direct observations and experiences, informal conversations with locals and other tourists, photographs and field accounts of the tours in June 2010, July 2013 and April 2016.

Despite the growth of film tourism studies, there has been a paucity of academic attention given to the impacts of film tourism on local communities and residents at film tourism destinations. This chapter adopts a longitudinal approach and aims to examine and discuss how, and the extent to which, local residents’ perceptions and attitudes towards the impacts of film tourism at a film tourism destination have changed, been transformed and/or adjusted over time. The findings suggest that during the film production stage, the local communities generally had positive perceptions and attitudes towards the impacts of film tourism and anticipated further positive indirect effects of the film’s production in the future. However, their generally positive perceptions and attitudes gradually began to change during the post-production effects (PPEFs) phase, leaving them with mixed perceptions and attitudes.

Nostalgia plays a crucial role not only in stimulating perceived familiarity with certain locations but also in motivating tourists to visit the locations and satisfying on-site experiences in the context of film tourism. However, the role of nostalgia has, until now, not been fully theorised and integrated in related theories on film tourism. This chapter aims to examine and identify the role of nostalgia in the development of future film tourism products and activities in Hong Kong, particularly those that target Korean audiences who enjoyed Hong Kong films produced from the 1970s to the late 1990s. The findings suggest that nostalgia formed by lasting memories of these Hong Kong films from the ‘good old days’ is represented and embodied by (1) memories of films’ content and film stars, (2) memories of film backdrops, (3) reminiscence of mimicking, (4) envy of Hong Kong society and (5) memories of Hong Kong history and culture. Stronger feelings of nostalgia and sentimentality, particularly associated with film content and film stars, as well as film backdrops, are crucial to the support needed for the development of Hong Kong film tourism-related tour programmes.

Induced by the numerous popular films produced at Hengdian World Studios in China, many people move to Hengdian themselves to experience the filming and, where possible, to become part of the production team. Previous studies have examined the behaviour and experiences of tourists at film studios. However, little is known about the practices of those who immerse in these film tourism locations for a longer period of time, such as the extras. In order to understand their motivations and experiences, this study employs qualitative interviews with 15 extras at Hengdian. Results show that most extras undergo a similar process consisting of three steps: people enlist themselves as extras based on dreams and high ambitions; during their first months, these dreams and the ‘magic’ of filming are mostly demystified, especially when they are confronted with the multilayered hierarchy of the film industry; finally, those who stay learn to live within the hierarchy while making plans to move upwards. By shedding light on the meanings behind extras’ experiences, this chapter offers an original perspective on both the symbolical and practical power structure of the Chinese film industry.

Neither the connection between film tourism and voluntourism nor the differences between Chinese and American film-induced voluntourists have been studied enough despite the potential importance of film-induced voluntourists for destinations. This research explores the phenomenon of voluntourism among fans of two very popular TV dramas in China and the US, Soldier Sortie and Lost, respectively, by conducting a qualitative ‘netnographic’ study on fans’ online conversations. The study aims at investigating both the motivations and specific behaviours of film-induced voluntourists in different cultures. The study finds that Soldier Sortie fans in China act more like a virtual charity organisation, while Lost fans engage with an existing charity organisation. Volunteering programs initiated by Soldier Sortie fans have taken on an important role in propelling the development of some tourist destinations in rural areas of the province where the series was shot. Moreover, Soldier Sortie fans act not only as donors but also as organisers and auditors, choosing and determining which school to help. This reflects the much stronger level of connectivity and activism among Chinese fans.

This chapter examines from a European-Asian perspective the relationship between media representations and the tourist’s imaginations. We use the case of Chinese and Taiwanese tourists in Paris to investigate how these non-European tourists imagine Europe and how these imaginations are being realised, challenged and modified during concrete tourist experiences. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with tourists and field observations, this chapter shows how both the Chinese and Taiwanese tourist imagination of Europe is strongly influenced by popular representations from the media – American Hollywood films in particular. As it turns out, the Chinese and Taiwanese tourist experience of Paris is characterised by an ongoing negotiation between media-inspired fantasies and personal experiences of the ‘real’ Paris. As a result of this, the way these tourists imagined Europe before their visit is reinforced, but also challenged. Chinese and Taiwanese tourists tend to develop a hybrid perspective: they learn Paris in its complexity while reconstituting their own cultural identity vis-a-vis the European other.

Current research of film tourism has been garnering interest, but still mainly premises managerial perspectives on destination management, lacking more holistic approaches to critical implications of film tourism. It becomes pertinent to explore film tourism in terms of tourist experiences comprising the reliving and reconstitution of fictional events (not always) based on media narratives. This paper considers how tourism ‘takes place’ in media (as content) and touring uses film (as process) as inherent parts of spatial, liminal and mediated experience. It centres on the German village in Namhae, South Korea, which was built over a decade ago as a tribute to the Korean workers who lived in Germany as Gastarbeiter. It explores the question of identities of the ‘locals’ as portrayed in the film, ‘Endstation der Sehnsüchte’ by Cho Sunghyung and juxtaposes this alongside the huge influx of ‘tourists’ indulging in photographing experience on the film set of the Korean TV drama ‘Couple or Trouble’. What surfaces in this research is a complex mediation of experiences that explore the nexus between the impacts of film and television on the cultural heritage of residents in film tourism locations and the convergence of mediatisation, globalisation and identity through film.

This chapter investigates the impact of Hindi films (popularly known as Bollywood) on the Indian diaspora in Honolulu, Hawaii. Using a short survey and detailed interviews with a few members of the Indian diaspora on the island, it finds a subtle impact of Bollywood films on their travel decisions. Active engagements like dancing, and social community gatherings like Diwali and Holi celebrations, seem to provide the Indian diaspora with a connection to their homeland. While some in the community feel that Bollywood is reflective of urban India, others feel Bollywood only serves to paint a distorted picture of what India should look like, is much more Westernised, and takes away from their experience or connection with their homeland. While some members of the community are more likely to be influenced by Bollywood films and travel to new places in India, others are more likely to travel to their usual destinations, visiting friends and family.

In this chapter, we consider the ways that elements of Japanese heritage have been incorporated into the contemporary Hollywood theme parks of Disney (Tokyo) and Universal Studios (Osaka), resulting in an attraction quite different from their US counterparts. This presents a significant change to the way in which these places have been traditionally developed, resulting in a glocalised tourist attraction that appeals to both Japanese and foreign visitors. By taking a cultural landscape approach, the authors uncover the cultural layers of these two theme parks, resulting in a deeper understanding of the relationship between Western and Asian culture, presenting a popular culture phenomenon that transcends a traditional monocultural approach. Consequently, theme parks should be seen as more than bland, ‘placeless’ places of Western cultural imperialism.