Screen tourism hit the headlines last month when fans of television hit Game of Thrones flocked to Spanish towns to see some scene shooting. To talk about and analyze this screen tourism phenomenon, on November 13rd, we attended the meeting EuroScreen which took place in London with the aim to present the results of the study “Quantifying Location Placement Value”. It focuses on four European locations (London, Ystad, Apulia (Italy) and Malta) and it has analyzed the interactions between users of social media networks finding a clear correlation between comments about the cities or the territory, and the films and series filmed there.

The event showed that films do not just generate profits by filling theatres; they also sell the locations where they’re made, creating new economic opportunities. A great example is the case of Notting Hill (1999), the famous film starring Julia Robert and Hugh Grant rolled in London that according to the research of this study, generated the equivalent of 24’9M € in advertising for the city.

As Film London CEO, Adrian Wootton, concluded, “Quite simply, this is free advertising”.