Florida International University Hospitality Review

ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of Hollywood movies and television (movies/TV) on US viewer’s motivation to travel to and participate in activities featured in Hollywood movies/TV productions. A survey was administered in an online format to a convenience sample of 433 respondents via Qualtrics. Factor analysis, correlation, and regression was employed to explore relationships between the variables. Findings identified a profile of Hollywood movies/TV viewers, sources of information used to determine destination choice, and level of involvement among viewers of Hollywood movies/TV productions. Additionally, this study explored the relationships between Hollywood movies/TV productions, tourist motivations, and the propensity to participate in activities featured. Findings indicate that Hollywood movies/TV productions have a positive impact on viewer involvement and that movie/TV related tourism is likely to be affected by movie and TV viewing preference and destination image. The results identify that the predictor “TV viewing behavior” is the strongest predictor of entertainment-motivated tourism, followed by “destination image” and “movie viewing behavior.” Findings also indicate that “destination image” is the strongest predictor of movie-related activities and that the image portrayed in a movie does influence the viewer’s inclination to visit and participate in activities featured in a movie.

[1]  W. Croy.  Film tourism: sustained economic contributions to destinations , 2011 .

[2]  Jim Bell,et al.  We've seen it in the Movies, let's see if it's true: motivation, authenticity and displacement in the film-induced tourism experience , 2011 .

[3]  S. Kim,et al.  A cross‐cultural study of screen‐tourists' profiles , 2011 .

[4]  S. Hudson,et al.  Impacts of a historical film on the destination image of South America , 2009 .

[5]  Anita Fernandez Young,et al.  Measuring the Effects of Film and Television on Tourism to Screen Locations: A Theoretical and Empirical Perspective , 2008 .

[6]  A. del Rey,et al.  The Image of Spain as Tourist Destination Built Through Fictional Cinema , 2008 .

[7]  K. Chon,et al.  The Effects of Korean Pop Culture on Hong Kong Residents' Perceptions of Korea as a Potential Tourist Destination , 2008 .

[8]  Hee‐Joo Han,et al.  A Study on the KBS TV Drama Winter Sonata and its Impact on Korea's Hallyu Tourism Development , 2008 .

[9]  B. Jewell,et al.  Movie Tourism—A New Form of Cultural Landscape? , 2008 .

[10]  A. Correia,et al.  Why people travel to exotic places , 2007 .

[11]  S. Hudson,et al.  Promoting Destinations via Film Tourism: An Empirical Identification of Supporting Marketing Initiatives , 2006 .

[12]  J. Gammack.  Tourism and Media , 2005 .

[13]  Josefa D. Martín,et al.  Factors influencing destination image , 2004 .

[14]  Julia Klug,et al.  Movie-induced tourism: The challenge of measurement and other issues , 2001 .

[15]  J. Springer.  Hollywood Fictions: The Dream Factory in American Popular Literature , 2000 .

[16]  Seyhmus Baloglu,et al.  A model of destination image formation , 1999 .

[17]  S. Olson,et al.  Hollywood Planet: Global Media and the Competitive Advantage of Narrative Transparency , 1999 .

[18]  David Bordwell.  The Way Hollywood Tells It: Story and Style in Modern Movies , 2006 .

[19]  L. Moutinho,et al.  Promotion of overseas tourism through media fiction. , 1986 .

[20]  M. Eber,et al.  Psychotherapy in the movies. , 1982 .