By telling the stories of today through film, South Africa can attract the tourists of tomorrow. Film tourism – and the narratives we tell about the destination, culture or attributes of a location – can help make a place more famous. South Africa should start sharing these stories.

More than 80 million people select their travel destinations based almost exclusively on films and television series, according to TCI Research, the European leader in travel data intelligence. Blockbuster films such as Marvel’s Avengers: Age of Ultron and acclaimed TV series like The Crown have the power of drawing many an international tourist to Johannesburg and Cape Town, where some scenes were filmed. We just need to get the script right.

The perceived limited narratives of Africa as a place of violence, crime, racism and poverty do little to attract tourists, particularly to South African cities. With its biodiversity and rich cultural history, South Africa offers so much more than a safari destination.

For just under a decade, staff in the Department of Historical and Heritage Studies in the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Pretoria (UP) have been involved in studies related to film tourism. They explore the synergies between film and tourism as leisure activities and their wider impact on the social, cultural and economic fabric of societies.

“Travelling allows us to immerse ourselves in stories,” explains Hannes Engelbrecht, a lecturer in heritage and cultural tourism. Stories in the form of film or television series are a significant part of the tourism industry. “This ranges from creating and distributing knowledge about destinations that inform pre-travel decision-making, to the creation of tourism products and services around film locations, to participants and fandoms engaging with fictional characters and places to become part of the story.”

It is estimated that The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies as well as the Harry Potter series have contributed between US$1.6 billion and US$5.3 billion to the tourism industries of New Zealand and the UK respectively.

Mr Hannes Engelbrecht, lecturer at the Department of Historical and Heritage Studies

South African potential

Film tourism successes such as Hobbiton, near Matamata in New Zealand, and the Home of Middle-earth campaign by New Zealand Tourism have mostly featured locations in the Global North. The Department of Historical and Heritage Studies’ research highlights similar potential benefits for South Africa. Besides the multiplicity of destinations the country has to offer, the internationalisation of South African culture through appearances by John Kani and the late Connie Chiume in the Black Panther films draw tourists to experience the cultural richness of South Africa. Even local productions add to this richness.

“Productions like [Netflix series] Blood & Water have resulted in internet searches for the ‘Parkhurst School’, the fictional setting featured in the production,” Engelbrecht says. “Every time a new season is released, there are significant spikes on Google Trends in places such as Australia and the Netherlands. This phenomenon could be further developed to create more diverse tourism products for these markets with the potential boon of job creation.”

Heritage value

Heritage sites provide iconic filming locations such as Skellig Michael in Ireland, which featured in Star Wars, and the Castle of Good Hope in Cape Town in South Africa, which featured in season 2 of The Crown. The Outlander series extensively features Scottish heritage sites and has had such a significant impact on tourism that some of the most visited attractions in Scotland were those featured in the television series. Glasgow Cathedral almost tripled its number of annual visitors after it featured in the show.

Film tourism is not only beneficial for heritage sites in terms of boosting visitor numbers, but this increase also brings with it significant funding to facilitate the conservation and continued existence of these sites. “In South Africa, where heritage sites rarely receive the critical funding they need, filming and the concomitant tourism can be a much-needed avenue to procure funding,” Dr Charlene Herselman says.

South Africa is already considered a popular filming destination due to the variety of environmental backdrops the country can provide, the incredible technical skills available in its creative industries, and the low production costs due to tax incentives and the favourable foreign exchange rate.

“We therefore simply have to leverage the resources we have to produce film tourism products for our visitors,” she adds. “The stories we tell today can become the tourist attractions of tomorrow, and inspire both physical and spiritual journeys through the medium of film.”

Dr Charlene Herselman, lecturer at the Department of Historical and Heritage Studies

FAST FACT

A film can be produced in South Africa at a quarter of the price it would take to produce the same quality of product in Hollywood.

Why this research matters

New pathways for tourism and film industry development could diversify the South African tourism product away from mass tourism at congested sites and safari destinations. This could lead to a dispersed offering with a better geographic spread of economic benefits and job creation. Additionally, directing traffic to off-the-beaten-track locations may lighten the load on existing infrastructure, prevent over-tourism, and help destinations stay within their carrying capacities, promoting more responsible forms of tourism.

SDG 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth

Read more on film tourism here: https://repository.up.ac.za/handle/2263/86245

Read more research stories like this in our Re.Search magazine. Check out Issue 10 of the magazine, which details some of our work, from advancing the field of wound care to understanding supermassive black holes.

The views expressed in this opinion piece are those of the author and do not represent the official stance or policies of the University of Pretoria.