The Location Managers Guild International (LMGI) is the largest organization of Location Managers and Location Scouts in the motion picture, television, commercial and print production industries. Their membership plays a vital role in the creativ
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50 • LMGI COMPASS | Fall 2019 The Originals did, however, shoot occasionally in New Orleans. Jonathan Ray, operator of New Orleans Movie & TV Tours, a company that visits actual production sites, is aware of where scenes were filmed and can include those locations in his tours. J onathan confirmed that his clients specifically visit the city because of exposure to Louisiana on screen, many of them fans of the CBS series NCIS: New Orleans. He also says that most projects shot in Louisiana are not set there, so people on his tours are unaware of many other productions. While tour- ism's periodic film economic reports support production con- tinuing in the state, Jonathan would like to see more support promoting film tourism. Perhaps it would generate more busi- nesses such as his interested in marketing to visitors, further boosting the local economy. According to their latest report, the visitor data skews to an older middle-class group that most probably would have a fair amount of disposable income. Years ago, there seemed to be a "vampire" on every corner in the French Quarter offering tours due to the success of the Anne Rice series Interview with the Vampire. (I myself over-nighted at a "haunted" mansion B&B where Brad Pitt reportedly stayed during the production of the film.) Jonathan said there are still similar tours available dedicated to vampire, witch and ghost lore, but thinks he is the only movie and TV tour operator in the city. Outlander, another book series adapted for the small screen, appears to be the latest screen tourism phenomenon, particu- larly for Scotland where the first three novels take place. How- ever, in the Starz hit series upcoming seasons, the story moves to the New World and the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. Even though production did not move to the United States and continues to shoot Scotland for U.S. locations, the popularity of the book series and show could be a draw for North Carolina tourism. Yet, a search of Outlander on the NC Tourism site only yielded one event hosting book writer Diana Gabaldon and a general internet search produced a smatter- ing of Outlander-related products in North Carolina, including an Outlander-inspired tour of the governor's Tyron Palace and a "Finding Fraser's Ridge" website which maps out Outlander sites and events related to the book and TV series. Guy Gaster, Director of the North Carolina Film Office, says their "Tourism office has not really set anything up to capture visitors being inspired to visit the state based off of books. That said, we certainly have seen interest in some areas increase whenever Nicholas Sparks books have come out as they tend to be set in towns in our state, but they don't have anything set up with regards to the Outlander books or television series." But with what the Northern Ireland research shows, as well as Diana Gabaldon's recent award from Visit Scotland due to research "revealing that attractions used in the popular televi- sion adaptation of her famous novels have seen visitor num- bers soar by 67 percent since 2013 from 887,000 to 1.5 million," North Carolina may want to take advantage of centralizing pro- motion of their real-life landscapes and historical locations fea- tured in the Outlander series whose fans are already generating tourists eager to visit their state. The Outlander Effect Visitor growth at Scotland attractions used for location filming on the television adaptation of the book series Outlander in the last five years: Doune Castle - 226.5 percent, Blackness Castle - 181.7 percent, Glasgow Cathedral - 66.8 percent, Culloden Visi- tor Centre - 65.84 percent and Culross Palace - 53.38 percent. These are but a few of the astounding statistics found in Visit Scotland's "The Outlander Effect & Tourism" paper. As part of this report, "All Scottish visitor attractions were surveyed to discover how screen tourism and Outlander has impacted businesses. Almost all respondents considered screen tourism as positive for the industry and a fifth of attractions located adjacent to filming locations saw an increase in visitors." It also states that "The vast majority of visitor attractions agree screen tourism is beneficial and something that if the oppor- tunity presented, should be capitalized on. For attractions ad- jacent to Outlander locations, 15 percent reported developing new product development and specific events related to film tourism." This is an excellent comprehensive study including screen tourism business best practices, a tour operator case study, visitor information and analytics, local and attraction insight and other tourism impacts of Outlander which can be found on Visit Scotland's business site visitscotland.org. F elicity Nixon, Filming & New Business Development Execu- tive, Historic Environment Scotland (HES), agrees. Her visi- tor statistics confirm significant growth in visitor numbers at venues featured in Outlander. She also said that there has been an increased interest in sites with similar themes or aes- "The vast majority of visitor aractions agree screen tourism is beneficial and something that if the opportunity presented, should be capitalized on...."