Bletchley Park is a vibrant heritage attraction and museum, open daily to visitors.
It was the home of British World War Two codebreaking; a place where technological innovation and human endeavour came together to made groundbreaking achievements that have helped shape the world we live in today.
This unique site was previously a vast Victorian estate, where parts including the Mansion still survive, expanding during wartime to accommodate Codebreakers Huts and Blocks.
During World War Two, the Government Code and Cypher School (GC&CS), now known as the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), was based at Bletchley Park. It grew from a small team of specialists to a vast intelligence factory of thousands of dedicated women and men. This extraordinary combination of brilliant and determined people and cutting-edge technology contributed significantly to Allied victory. In tough conditions, they provided vital intelligence and developed pioneering technological innovation that had a direct and profound influence on the outcome of the war.
The 2014 film, Imitation Game, starring Benedict Cumberbatch, catapulted Bletchley Park into the national consciousness and resulted in a significant increase in visitor numbers to the attraction as well as National Lottery funding to improve facilities, infrastructure and interpretation at the attraction. However, Professor John Ferris (2020), author of ‘Behind the Enigma’ argues that maybe a ‘cult of Bletchley’ exists which has maybe stretched the contribution of Bletchley Park towards ending WWII based on myth and media.
Points to consider:
What impacts can film and media have on the success of an attraction and how?
Is the perpetuation of myths ok? Should interpretation and accuracy of information at an attraction be of paramount importance? Is there room for storytelling?
How can an attraction harness outside influences E.g. media to its advantage?
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Film and media could make an attraction more well known as it helps promote the site around the globe. For example, Carlo IV Hotel in Prague has gain attention since it was on the movie “Spider-Man: Far from Home”. This allows the hotel to earn higher revenue by having more guests staying overnight, which benefits the property.
Storytelling as a skill for advertising and marketing is widely used. In my opinion, I think it is wrong, as if the attraction is completely opposite to the visitors expectation, the attraction would receive negative feedback on all of their social media. In the long term, it is not ideal. Attractions should sell what they are!
Media can bring both advantage and disadvantage. From an attraction management perspective, they should maintain good relationship with media and press, as it will benefit the attraction in the long run.
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I completely agree with Carlos.
Social media are widely used in recent times to promote attractions, destinations and many more sites however, if it advertises false information, it can lead to the opposite of attracting visitors. In order to avoid disappointment, it can be stated that a certain film was produced in that specific attraction to showcase a different purpose. Nevertheless, the media have the power of twisting reality and it is down to the visitor to research properly about this specific attraction.
Similarly, the ancient city of Petra was unknown to the world until the film Indiana Jones was staged (Business Insider, 2019). This attraction is not part of the seven wonders of the world and part of UNESCO world heritage.
Through this visits to the attraction have increased and the interest of preserving it too.
The media have positive and negative impacts on attractions, it can be deducted that avoiding false information is more important than selling an attraction as a fake one just to attract visitors.
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Yh absoultely.
Since the film broadcasted in cinemas around the world, booking has been surged up as fans coming to stay. However, one of the managers at the hotel admitted the room in the movie is actually not one of the rooms within the property, and it makes fans disappointed. I think its just one way the hotel advertise themselves.
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Both film and media can have a major impact on the success of an attraction as the attraction is being shown to a large number of people. For example, in 2010 Antony House in Cornwall was used as the only real site to film Alice in Wonderland and after the movie was released the property increased its visitor number from 25,000 to 100,000 (Martin Cuff, n.d.). However, there are some negatives as the attraction might not always be exactly as it is shown in a film which can be a disappointment for people who are visiting the attraction mainly because they have seen it in their favourite film.
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The power of the media and the growing audience’s outreach to the film will help draw visitors to locations within the film for the experience. Visitors not only admire the beautiful scenery seen through the film but also want to recall the emotional details in the film that took place here. That is why the success of movies has a significant impact on tourism.
If the travel agents advertise in the media or image promotion campaigns, the cost is not small. But if promoting through movies, businesses will not lose money but also make profits, at least from the amount of image that reaches the audience’s eyes for a long time when the film airs.
However, the film only gives an initial awareness of the tourist destination, has not created a demand for tourism. Tourism has to do a series of activities after that to attract visitors. Communication is the most important factor. Articles cover the film, introduce unique tours to the set, and locations where the film is set.
Communication has a great effect on attracting visitors. Through the media, visitors will discover beautiful tourist spots. Adding information, using techniques to make the image more beautiful is necessary, in doing so, it makes an impression on the audience. When you do too much, it will not be beautiful.
But everything has to be in moderation and limits, can not “He cries wine and sells vinegar”. Communication also needs the cooperation of the person in charge of tourism management. It is not possible to communicate like this, but in reality, it is not that will have the opposite effect. As is the case with the Mediterranean Archipelago Fort Ricasoli in the Mediterranean, the main filming site of the film “Troy” (2004). After the resounding success of this epic film, visitors from all over the world flock to Malta to visit.
The unfortunate thing for Malta is that Hollywood filmmakers donated the wooden horse in the movie “Troy” to Canakkale province (Turkey), where there is Troy relics. This makes visitors to the Ricasoli fortress in Malta often be disappointed when they cannot contemplate the presence of the Trojan horse as in the movie.
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People often travel to myths and stories birth’s places to fulfil their curiosity or because they want to disconnect from reality. The expectations of visitors when visiting a myth-based visitor attraction is not to receive real information but to fulfil their need for novelty by engaging in fantasies and various types of entertainment. Dracula Castle in Transylvania and Frankenstein Castle in Germany are just some of the examples of tourist attractions that build an entire story around them to attract tourists.
Storytelling is a marketing tool used by many tourist attractions to differentiate itself from the others but also to enrich the visitor experience. Telling stories has its roots in the earliest days of humanity, which is why I believe that tourist attractions can use this technique to connect visitors with the stories and experiences of that place.
If in the past stories and myths were transmitted verbally from one generation to the next, nowadays the film and media industry plays an important role in the stories telling process and in their association with places in the real world.
The film and media industry can have a favourable impact on a tourist attraction because it helps to promote it to a wide audience and increase the number of visitors. Many tourist attractions have enjoyed success because of the association with famous films or the publicity they have enjoyed in the media. For example, some of the tourist attractions in the UK that have benefited from a boost in the number of visitors following the association with famous films are Wallace Monument in Scotland, Lyme Park and Saltram House (Hudson and Ritchie, 2006).
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Places which have been focused on in the movies like The Imitation Game have been valued by fans of the stars in the movie. It is also an important place for computing enthusiasts to visit as a sense of respect. So, movies do provide exposure to certain places which is a good thing in terms of people visiting them more often.
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Movies and stories play a huge role in drawing tourism towards an attraction.These ignite a curiosity in the minds of the audience which can only be satisfied after visiting the experiencing the attractions first hand.
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Some destinations are gaining popularity only because of the fact, that it took part in a film, the famous singer sang about it, or it was loud about that place on TV. Nowadays, when the TV and Netflix’ series are very popular, a lot of viewers wish to visit a town from their favourite series. For example the town Hawkins from Stranger Things or Mystic Falls from Vampire Diaries. These are the destinations, that if they won’t be shown in those series, no one would find them interesting, cause they would be seen like ‘every other American town’.
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The increasing prominence of Films in the world has increased the number of visitors at visitors attractions where popular films were shooted. For instance, the “Braveheart” film shooted in “Wallace Monument, Scotland” in 1995 has increased 300% in visitors within one year of its release. (Hudson and Ritchie, 2006, pg. 389) This shows that film tourism has a greater impact on any tourism attraction The “Concept of Film Tourism” demonstrates references of many scholars indicating that tourism activities are powered by the “movies, series, books, or other media forms” and they consider the “Film Tourism” as: “movie-induced tourism”, ” television-induced tourism”, “screen-induced tourism” etc. (Du et al, 2020, pg 366-367).
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Reference
Husdon S., Ritchie B., (2006), Promoting Destinations via Film Tourism:
An Empirical Identification of Supporting
Marketing Initiatives, Journal of Travel Research, Sage Publication 44, pp 387-396
Du Y., Li J., Pan B., and Zhang Y. (2020) Lost in Thailand: A case study on the impact of a film on tourist behavior, Journal of Vacation Marketing, The Author(s), 26(3), 365-377
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Film created on the ground of visitor attraction has an immense impact on the destination. For instance: “Destinations portrayed in films raise destination awareness. Destinations portrayed in films can enhance the attractiveness of a destination and film tourism
can contribute to the tourism sectors in the destination” (Pratt, 2015)
Reference
Pratt S., 2015, The Borat effect: film-induced tourism gone
wrong, Tourism Economics, 21(5), pp. 977-993
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Film-tourism destinations are often crowded with fans and visitors which usually decreases the activities of local communities due to the longer interest of fans and visitors on that destination (Thelen, et al., 2020). For example, When “Balamory (BBC TV)” shot in “Tobermory, Isle of Mull, Scotland” there was no discussion taken place with the local community and tourism organization at the ‘pre-production stage’. Hence the regional people were not prepared properly for the large number of ‘tourist demand’ for the film tourism in less time. In this case, how essential it becomes to discuss with local entities while planning the film tourism is shown and how this can allow the local entities stay prepared for the impact of film tourism.
Reference
Thelen t., Kim S., & Scherer E., (2020) Film tourism impacts a multi-stakeholder longitudinal approach, Tourism Recreation Research, 45(3), 291-306,
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According to the Office for National Statistics (2020) 96% of households in the UK have access to internet by February 2020 up from 57% in 2006 and 92% owns a smart phone. With this devise you can access internet from anywhere and whenever you want.
Giving the above figure it is obvious that media in its classic (TV, Radio, newspaper…) and modern form (social media) this powerful tool is shaping our lives.
Therefore, there is no surprise that media has its influence in promoting a destination.
The film and the drama industries play this role very well, great example the movie “The Beach” for Leonardo Di Caprio in Maya Bay Thailand which eventually the Beach and the local people paid heavy price as the site closed in 2018 for the first time since it become a popular in 1999.
The drama TV series “Game of Throne” also played huge role in promoting the city of Dubrovnik Croatia.
Bletchley Park (BP), this historic WWII code braker site, was forgotten and the building was barely surviving.
The site is an international attraction, the visitor number increased, the park raised from the ashes, reclaiming its status as a heritage attraction; thanks to the influence of the media, again the film and drama industries was influential; The 2012-2014 drama series “Bletchley Circle” and the 2014 movie, “The Imitation Game” (Craigie, 2021) were the driving factors.
BP looks like it finds its refuge in the TV drama industry making to market itself internationally as the TV production team behind “The Imitation Game” movie accepted the code braker novel “The Rose Code” by Kate Quin for TV drama series (White, 2021).
The Park history’s is well known, it is written, taught, preserved and passed from generation to another. The importance of the park interpretation lies within its facts. However, there are many ways in which the attraction interpreting itself, by using technology, translating its history to different language, preserving and displaying the remains of some of the equipment, clothes, uniforms and offices were used during the WWII.
Storytelling as an interpretation method is not harming as it keeps visitors live the experience and think for their own interpretation, however in the case of adopting one it must be based on a scientific solid material evidence.
References:
Craigie, E (2021) The films shot in Milton Keynes you might not know about. Buckinghamshire live [online]. Available from: https://www.buckinghamshirelive.com/news/buckinghamshire-news/films-shot-milton-keynes-you-5062544 [Accessed 24/10/2021].
Office for National Statistics (2020) Internet access – households and individuals, Great Britain: 2020. Office for National Statistics [online]. Available from: https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/householdcharacteristics/homeinternetandsocialmediausage/bulletins/internetaccesshouseholdsandindividuals/2020 [Accessed 24/10/2021].
White, P (2021) Bletchley Park code braker novel “The Rose Code” by Kate Quin being adapted for TV by Black Bear Pictures. Deadline [online]. Available from: https://deadline.com/2021/03/bletchley-park-code-breaker-novel-the-rose-code-by-kate-quinn-black-bear-television-1234725291/ [Accessed 24/10/2021].
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Film Tourism can play a key role in the reasonings for why someone decides to visit a location. It can help promote a site unknowingly and even allow for the preservation of locations long after filming takes place.
The power that the media has on audiences is very large, people are interested in visiting places which they may feel like they have a connection to, so whether someone has a keen interest in a certain movie or tv show they may feel a desire to visit somewhere. Tourism is a way for visitors to visit somewhere which is out of the norm of their every day life.
Many people may visit a location due to the myths are legends behind the location even if there is no legitimacy to the claims. When they visit they were not expecting reality however to confirm their fantasies and desire for entertainment. Attractions are able to transport people into their fantasies whilst visiting and be able to place themselves within the world that they have imagined, especially in locations like Castles, Historic Houses and places of significant historic impact.
The way in which an attraction is marketed impacts how the visitors feel when they arrive, if an attraction is completely different to someones expectations they may receive negative feedback, so its important attractions can promote themselves as what they actually are, rather than what they may have been used as in a film.
Vaux-Le-Vicomte is a Chateux in Maincy which was used in the TV Show Versailles for some of the exterior footage due to the limitations of filming at the Versailles Palace due to it only being shut on Mondays to the public. It was also a filming location in the James Bond film Moonraker.
The use of Bletchley Park for the Imitation came increased visitor numbers to the attraction which led there to be an increase in funding to the property to be able to improve its facilities and improve its status as an attraction.
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Media has always been a big part of visitor attraction as it helps paint an image and view of the attraction, this isn’t always positive though but bad media isn’t always bad as it can be viewed as free media. For example bad media for Bletchley was a book that was written saying that the reputation of the code breaking was exaggerated and was boosted rather than the reality. This didn’t affect them too much as they are an historical site and have other stories and things to visit.
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