Quantifying Film & Television Tourism OlsbergSPI 26 th - - PDF document

08/10/2015 1

Quantifying Film & Television Tourism

Olsberg•SPI

26th September, 2015 Barcelona

• 1. Introduction
• 2. The Importance of Quantitative Measurement
• 3. Overview of SPI’s Creative England Study
• 4. Findings
• 5. Toolkit for Locations and DMOs
• 6. Areas for Further Assessment

2

08/10/2015 2 Screen tourism can deliver a range of positive and long-term impacts

3

• Screen tourism results from screen exposure of a place and a people with

features and television drama being the most potent generators – although other types of content can also induce screen tourism, such as reality entertainment, food and travel shows Screen exposure

Increase visitor levels to existing destinations Help establish new tourism sites Diversify visitor profile Branding and ‘soft power’ Promote lesser- known aspects of destination Sharpen a destination’s competitive edge

The increasing recognition of ‘soft power’ value

4

Extract from British Council Report “As Others See Us”

In a multipolar, hyper connected world, a country’s power is increasingly measured by its ability to inspire and attract citizens of other nations to take an interest in its national story, enjoy its passions, and ultimately respect its values, ideas and aspirations

08/10/2015 3 There is increasing understanding of the value of screen tourism

5

• Screen tourism is a cross-sectoral
• pportunity, relevant for productions,

distributors, locations and DMOs

• Relevant to individual locations as well

as cities, regions and countries

• There is now more compelling

evidence of screen tourism effects

• SPI’s work in this area includes studies
• n the UK, the Rest of England and

Barcelona

• Screen tourism to linked destinations

even if they are not explicitly featured

• n screen (New Zealand)
• Some authorities are taking a strategic

approach to boosting screen tourism, and also utilising its links with production to maximise both areas

• New Zealand’s funding for the Avatar

films came with requirements to boost tourism profile, such as upfront credits and including content on New Zealand in DVD and Blu-Ray releases

• A partnership launched in 2015

between Creative England and VisitEngland aims to strengthen links between tourism and creative industries

• Some incentives, such as Malta’s,
• ffer enhancements for productions

showcasing the country

• Screen tourism can also be used

strategically for a range of factors – for example by promoting lesser-visited areas of a country

The screen tourism opportunity is increasing

6

• Production of film and television

is rising

• 7% increase in the total number of

features produced by the 28 EU Member States over last five years

• Number of US films declined over the

same period but rising budgets and voracious use of international locations at the top end

• Spectre shot in the UK, Mexico,

Italy, Morocco, Austria

• Consumption is also rising. In 2014,

global box office was $36.4bn – up 15%

• n 2010
• Filmed entertainment revenue also

forecast to grow globally by a CAGR of 4.1% -- to reach $104.6bn in 2019

• Screen tourism can also intersect with

current trends in tourism, such as the desire for authentic, experiential travel

1499 1603

1400 1500 1600 1700 2010 2014

Total features produced by EU Members, 2010-2014

Sources: European Audiovisual Observatory, MPAA, pwc

08/10/2015 4

• 1. Introduction
• 2. The Importance of Quantitative Measurement
• 3. Overview of SPI’s Creative England Study
• 4. Findings
• 5. Toolkit for Locations and DMOs
• 6. Areas for Further Assessment

7

Creating a robust evidence base

8

• Screen tourism is an area with limited hard evidence on economic value
• SPI’s project for Creative England, Quantifying Film and Television Tourism in

England, piloted a new, robust, valuation methodology to this challenge

• Such measurement is vital for underlining the economic benefits to governments

and other stakeholders when seeking further strategic development of this area and investment – anecdotal or limited evidence is less accepted

• Measurement is also important to track a baseline of activity and evaluate the

effectiveness of any targeted screen tourism policy for DMOs or locations

• Screen tourism is a fast-moving area so reliance on previous insights/data may

not reflect how current tourists are interacting with destinations

• SPI’s methodology is focussed on hard evidence: linked to the actual expenditure
• f core screen tourists on site – quantifying the economic/financial effect at the

destinations studied and extrapolating the results on a national level

08/10/2015 5 Measuring screen tourism is complex

• A key issue is gauging motivation
• Screen products can have differing

levels of influence on tourists

• Assessment of tourism impact must

reflect these different motivations

• Isolating the core screen tourist is key

to the method

• Requires a complex survey model
• Then quantify the volume of these

screen tourists

• And assigning a value adds further

complexity

9 Screen product

• nly reason for

visit Screen product is irrelevant

• 1. Introduction
• 2. The Importance of Quantitative Measurement
• 3. Overview of SPI’s Creative England Study
• 4. Findings
• 5. Toolkit for Locations and DMOs
• 6. Areas for Further Assessment

10

08/10/2015 6 Quantifying Film and Television Tourism in England

• Study undertaken for Creative England

in association with VisitEngland

• In response to the need for robust

evidence and the desire to maximise screen tourism through closer working at national and regional level

• New methodology resulted in a more

robust annual valuation of screen tourism at eight specific filming

• locations. Value then scaled up for Rest
• f England
• Conservative approach – only valued

actual foreign core visitors to location not domestic visitors or those that were more generally influenced

• Substantial interview programme of in-

person and online surveying at six sites. Online surveys at a further two

• Also created a predictive tourism model

11

Methodology

12

• Three main aspects of methodology:
• Designing survey to capture highly accurate data
• Scaling this data to an annual value for each location
• Scaling up this specific site data to a Rest of England valuation
• Initial challenge – identify an accurate sample of locations
• Longlist process collated a wide range of screen products and locations for

further analysis before final selection for study

• This assessed factors such as:
• Pre-existing profile as a tourist destination
• Potential to attract screen tourists
• The associated screen product had received wide international exposure
• The location / visitor agency was willing to co-operate with study
• Detailed visitor data was available for the site
• A visitor database was available for email survey
• The screen product was part of site’s marketing, but not the only factor
• Visit spend data was available for the site
• The site was available on the survey days

08/10/2015 7 Selecting sites and screen products

13

• A key factor was that a location had ‘dual appeal’ – i.e. potential to attract both

screen and general tourists

• Both important in order to understand the proportion of screen tourists within

general tourist population

• Location selection considered factors including:
• Locations covered as much of the English regions as possible
• Different types of filming locations – i.e. historical buildings, countryside locations,

towns, villages

• A combination of paid-for and free locations
• Screen product selection aimed to include different types of film and television:
• Costume drama
• Big budget blockbusters
• Family / children’s content
• Fantasy shows
• Darker content
• Sci-fi

Key Study Productions and Locations

14

• Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone / Chamber of Secrets

Alnwick Castle

• Downton Abbey

Bampton

• Brideshead Revisited (1981 TV/ 2008 film),Garfield: a Tale of Two Kitties,

Death Comes to Pemberley

Castle Howard

• Shakespeare in Love, The Duchess

Holkham

• The Awakening, Pride and Prejudice (1995 TV) Casanova, The Village

Lyme Park

• Star Wars, Atlantis, Da Vinci’s Demons, Doctor Who, Merlin

Puzzlewood

• Broadchurch

West Bay

• The Dark Knight Rises (Batman)

Wollaton Hall

08/10/2015 8 Surveys developed to identify/isolate core screen tourists

• Core screen tourists are those who

would not have visited a location without the screen link, or would have visited but said a screen link was the main reason

• The 23-question survey isolated these

visitors, alongside a range of

• ther data, including demographics
• Crucially, this included whether

visitors were international or domestic visitors

• Also assessed which screen product

had motivated the visit – and whether they had seen it

• Surveys in August 2014

15

Core General screen tourists General tourists Levels change depending

• n screen

product / location

Approach to valuing screen tourists

• To value screen tourism, average day spend data from official tourism surveys

was sourced and applied to core screen tourists depending on motivational level, i.e.:

• Value was also scaled up to reflect group size
• Further scaling up to annual valuation for each site, based on 2014 visitor data

16

• Screen tourists who would not have visited

without the screen product

100% of average day-spend value

• Screen tourists who would have visited, but

pointed to the screen product as the main reason

50% of average day-spend value

08/10/2015 9

Annual value of the eight study sites then scaled up to England,

• utside of London
• This employed a two step Scaling-Up Method
• Screen tourism-specific sites, such as the Warner Bros. Studio Tour –The Making
• f Harry Potter, were not included in this approach as they had the potential to

skew the results

17

Step One Value of eight survey sites applied individually to 100 further dual appeal locations based on similarity of content / locations Step Two The value of 100 locations then scaled up to 250 – which research showed to be the likely total of dual appeal locations

• 1. Introduction
• 2. The Importance of Quantitative Measurement
• 3. Overview of SPI’s Creative England Study
• 4. Findings
• 5. Toolkit for Locations and DMOs
• 6. Areas for Further Assessment

18

08/10/2015 10 Screen tourism a potent motivator for international tourists

• Core screen tourists identified at all eight sites, to varying degrees
• Screen tourism is a greater motivator for international visitors than domestic
• Of visitors surveyed at six sites, an average of 36.1% of all international

visitors were core screen tourists

• Proportion of domestic core screen tourists was 11.6%

19 36.1% 63.9% International Core international screen tourists General international tourists 11.6% 88.4% Domestic Core domestic screen tourists General domestic tourists

Estimated annual value of screen tourism at the eight survey sites

Location Annual value of domestic core screen tourists (£m) Annual value of international core screen tourists (£m) Annual value of core screen tourists (£m) Alnwick Castle

3.1 1.2 4.3

Bampton

1.1 1.6 2.7

Castle Howard

0.4 0.4

Holkham

0.9 0.9

Lyme Park

0.5 0.3 0.9

Puzzlewood

0.1 0.1

West Bay

0.8 0.2 1

Wollaton Hall

0.1 0.1

20

08/10/2015 11

Clear evidence that tourists visit certain locations specifically because they were depicted on screen

• Scaling up the site results shows that screen tourism to filming locations is highly

valuable on a national level in England, outside of London

21

£100m-£140m

Estimated annual day- spend value of core international screen tourism at locations in the Rest of England in 2014

The study’s valuation methodology can be considered conservative

• Only includes day spend, not

expenditure on entire trip

• Some tourists travelled to the UK

specifically because of a screen product

• Does not include screen tourists for

whom a link was a lesser,

• r latent, factor
• Does not include screen tourist visitors

to specific, screen tourism-only sites

• Core value calculation does not

include domestic tourists

• Only focuses on feature film and

television drama

• Widening the focus to include other

types of screen tourism – such as reality, food or travel shows – would have probably resulted in a higher valuation

• Does not include tourists travelling to a

location because filming is currently taking place

22

08/10/2015 12 Success factors for attracting tourists to locations

23 Success

factors

Globally popular production Extended exposure – film or television series Locations do not have to ‘play’ themselves – particularly sci-fi Period drama strong but other genres not a barrier Location features clearly on screen / central to plot Location overlaps with elements of wider appeal – e.g. heritage, landscapes

Wide range of related trends identified

24

Screen tourism can be an instant

• phenomenon. Some productions can

attract tourists before release Relevant for different types of content – even dark storylines Lowbrow / highbrow Ability of screen tourism to draw tourists away from established centres – market development Strong impacts at locations that intersect with wider tourism appeal – like heritage in the UK Rising interest in screen tourism – 26% of all respondents were more likely to visit screen locations than they were three years ago

08/10/2015 13

• 1. Introduction
• 2. The Importance of Measurement
• 3. Overview of SPI’s Creative England Study
• 4. Findings
• 5. Toolkit for Locations and DMOs
• 6. Areas for Further Assessment

25

Maximising the opportunity

26

• The Study assessed ways in which screen tourism could be maximised by

locations and DMOs, including how they could assess incoming filming requests for tourism potential and possible value

• Knowledge and best practice could also be improved through the use of a

location toolkit. This information product could advise locations on a number of factors, such as:

• How information on a location can best be used to reach viewers who might

subsequently visit – and could include international release dates so that marketing can be targeted

• Best practice for producing and presenting visitor information and materials – and

balancing the needs of screen tourists with those of other visitors

• Maximising screen tourism to locations beyond release – how to ensure that

tourists continue to be aware of the screen links

• The robust measurement of screen tourism

08/10/2015 14 Identifying projects with screen tourism potential

27

• The project pointed to a number of key factors relating to higher screen

tourism potential

Visual and dramatic potential of location within story The international potential of the screen product Overlap with wider tourism offer of place, region or country Positive appeal Likelihood of strong release and wide international distribution Data available on previous comparable projects

Creating a predictive value model

28

• These factors can be used to create a predictive value model for screen

tourism, useful for locations, DMOs and others when assessing the potential of a filming request

• Broad value ranges can also be included, in order to demonstrate potential

earnings

• Such a model should be further developed over time to reflect the results of
• ngoing analysis
• Used as a general guide – success of projects not guaranteed, and outside of the

control of a filming location

• But some factors improve confidence about future impact
• For example, where content is based on successful pre-existing content
• Often literature-based (Shakespeare, Wallander, Millennium)

08/10/2015 15

Example of a predictive value model – potential annual value to locations from domestic and international screen tourists

29

• Fantasy film franchise, based on record-selling book series; family audience; site a key

location; site a major historical building tourist attraction

£4m

• UK TV period drama; global appeal, with high profile in the US; several key filming

sites at location with key ongoing roles in plot; location appeals to heritage tourists

£3m

• Period drama, adapted from a classic novel; Location features in iconic scene,

celebrated years after its release; location also major heritage attraction

£1m

• Small countryside location with strong family appeal; production is a fantasy series

with family appeal.

£0.1m

• Heritage building in regional city; featured as a key location in a major global

blockbuster; no link to the actual site, having doubled for a location in the US

£0.1m

• Drama series, strong audience appeal despite dark themes; location plays fictional

town central to plot; part of iconic landscape with strong pre-existing tourist appeal

£1m

• Period romantic drama; location iconic and with strong pre-existing tourist appeal

but did not feature as itself; location has strong heritage and countryside appeal

£0.9m

• Enduring drama series adapted from key 20th century English novel; site is major

heritage building and key location in the series

£0.4m

Maximising the presence of screen tourism

30

• Study showed some survey sites had responded to the opportunity – e.g.

leaflets / trails

• At others an information gap was identified
• Advance planning is essential
• More thought needed in helping screen tourists navigate destinations and

identify specific locations

• Closer links between screen and tourism agencies could help create higher quality

materials – e.g. integration of on-set interviews, clips and stills

• Consider monetising the screen link – some screen tourists noted lack of
• pportunity to spend
• Clear that maximisation needs to be carefully considered by locations / DMOs
• Locations can be sensitive – may be experiencing large increase in visitors

related to screen portrayal

• Maximisation without alienating any existing visitors or diluting

authenticity of site

08/10/2015 16

• 1. Introduction
• 2. The Importance of Quantitative Measurement
• 3. Overview of SPI’s Creative England Study
• 4. Findings
• 5. Toolkit for Locations and DMOs
• 6. Areas for Further Assessment

31

Some areas for further study

32 To quantify Profile of screen tourists – spend, demographics Strategy effectiveness Overlap between screen and cultural tourism Longitudinal research to assess interest decline Add screen tourism questions to continuous incoming survey How screen tourists ‘discover’ locations

08/10/2015 17

Thank You jonathan@o-spi.com