“Mind the scenery!” Landscape depiction and the travel intentions of Game of Thrones fans: some insights for DMOs
“Mind the scenery!” Landscape depiction and the travel intentions of Game of Thrones fans: some insights for DMOs

Summary/Abstract: Screen tourism is becoming increasingly popular. Successful feature films and television series can form, enhance or alter place image, and put filming locations on tourists’ mental maps. Very little is known, however, about how the resonance of landscape depiction and place attachment may affect the gathering of information about differ-ent filming locations and, consequently, consumers’ travel intentions. This study seeks to identify a nexus between landscape depiction and travel intention through an exploration of the fantasy television series Game of Thrones (GoT). The structured questionnaire survey carried out with 314 GoT fans reveals that different dimensions have had a scale-effect on travel intentions. Partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) – considered the most appropriate for this exploratory study – was applied for the data analysis. The results indicate that landscape depiction has a positive effect on place attachment, information gathering and travel intentions, thus providing destination management organisations (DMOs) with opportunities to interact with potential tourists to promote filming locations.

• Details
• Contents