British film and TV are ‘brochures’ for tourism
A UK Times article says that Pride and Prejudice and the Harry Potter series are among films and television dramas that have become “virtual brochures” for Britain’s history and culture, according to a report by the UK Film Council.
Visitors were previously drawn to Alnwick Castle, Northumberland, to see a mighty medieval fortress, one of Europe’s finest, with since it became the setting for Hogwarts, the boy wizard’s school, there has been a 120 per cent increase in visitor numbers, bringing in turn an estimated £9 million in tourist revenue to the area.
Lyme Park, the National Trust property in Stockport, Cheshire, previously attracted visitors to the 18th-century Italianate palace, Lyme Hall, with its main draw now it seems, has become the lake from which Colin Firth, as Mr Darcy, emerged dripping in the television adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, Lyme experiencing a tripling in its visitor numbers and Firth fans are still visiting in droves nearly 12 years after the series was first shown.
The figures were published in How Film and Television Programmes Promote Tourism in the UK, which notes that, although the phenomenon of “screen tourism” has long been acknowledged, the evidence has been largely anecdotal until now.
The report also singles out Balamory, the children’s drama about colourful characters living in a close-knit community on a Scottish island, which went out to 15 million viewers across Europe, with the village of Tobermory experiencing a 40 per cent rise in visitors – an increase of 160,000, with the series thought to be contributing £5 million a year to the local economy.
The report concludes: “The effect of films and television can be far-reaching. They help to project an updated image of the UK overseas while historical films and programmes reinforce a brand for the UK as a country steeped in history.”
Report by The Mole
John Alwyn-Jones
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