SET-JETTING: Britain raises the curtain on film tourism

VisitBritain hosted a reception for media and travel partners at the TIFF Bell Lightbox during last week’s Toronto International Film Festival. The pairing of Visit Britain and the film festival was an ideal opportunity to showcase Britain with “an awesome program, the biggest ever, with 24 productions or co-productions from the UK” said British Consul General to Toronto, Fouzia Younis.

“Films and television are powerful motivators for travel,” said Cathy Stapells, Sr. Marketing & Communications Manager Canada at VisitBritain. And screen tourism – or “set-jetting” as she put it – is a significant draw for visitors to Britain, with almost a third of potential visitors to the UK keen to visit locations used in filming and seen-on-screen.

This is not a new venture. VisitBritain has promoted Britain to the world through film for well over a decade, most recently as part of the UK Government’s GREAT Britain campaign, knowing that filming locations also offer valuable opportunities for VisitBritain to shine the spotlight on regional destinations, as well as less visited locations and to drive tourism throughout the shoulder seasons.

Younis noted that films provide a unique opportunity to showcase the country beyond London, stating, “People are seeing iconic locations from the Cotswolds to cities like Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast.”

The current film “North Star” – which debuted at TIFF – is a British drama that marks the directorial debut of Kristin Scott Thomas from her own screenplay, co-written with John Micklethwait. It stars Scott Thomas, along with Scarlett Johansson, Freida Pinto, Sienna Miller, and Emily Beecham, and was shot in Hampshire.

Among VisitBritain’s film tourism collaborations in recent years have been Bridgerton, Downton Abbey, Skyfall, Spectre, Paddington; Kingsman: The Golden Circle; King Arthur: Legend of the Sword; The BFG; and Sherlock Holmes to name a few, working with major studios including NBC Universal, Warner Brothers, StudioCanal and Sony Pictures.

Canadian visitors to Britain are expected to set an all-time record this year with an expected 944,000 visitors beating the previous high of 911,00 in 2017. And we’re spending more while we’re there. According to the British Film Institute in 2019, inbound tourists spent an estimated £892 million in film-related screen tourism in the UK, up from £729 million in 2017.

And, with 102 direct flights from Canada to the UK every week connecting five gateways here and four in the UK, can that magic million visitors be far behind?