In these days of vast social media influence, it’s great to see the cinema and tv still playing a huge part in our lives. The fact is, what we see on tv and in movies is a huge motivator for where we travel on holiday and the locations we choose to spend our days out.

This phenomenon started in the ‘70s and ‘80s with people flocking to the popular locations they had seen in films like “Brideshead Revisited” and on tv dramas like “Heartbeat” and soaps like “Emmerdale”. Internationally, think “Neighbours” in Australia, “Inspector Montalbano” in Italy, “Friends” in the USA and lots more.

The first three years of the 21st century saw screen tourism grow exponentially in destination terms with the release of the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy and its effect on tourism to New Zealand. Three years later, 2006 saw tourism to the UK grow with the worldwide release of “Casino Royale” and the reboot of the Bond franchise.

Fast-forward to 2024, and films like “Gladiator II” (Malta) and tv series like “Peaky Blinders” (the West Midlands), “Bridgerton” (England’s south-west), “Emily in Paris” (guess where?!) and The White Lotus have also superbly demonstrated the power of the screen on tourism influences and choices.

How the tourism sector capitalises on all this – and how the screen industry maximises revenues and its full potential too – depends on all of us fully understanding the power of screen tourism, its new developments (in the gaming sector, for example) and how we can learn together and work together to fulfil our potential.

A great starting point is SET-JET25, the first-ever World Screen Tourism Summit – don’t forget to book your place!