Creative tourism

Northern Ireland Screen’s Richard Williams emphasised how film and TV production can draw visitors and present a strong positive image of the province.

‘Set-jetting’ may be a relatively new term for Northern Ireland but it essentially means the province can use its film locations to draw tourists from around the world. Explaining the term, Northern Ireland Screen’s Richard Williams pointed out how Yorkshire still benefits from ‘All Creatures Great and Small’. Connemara meanwhile draws on ‘The Quiet Man’ and New Zealand promotes itself through ‘Lord of the Rings’.

Northern Ireland Screen wants to make the most of the province’s many “beauty spots” by opening them up as film locations. Highlighting Cave Hill, he said: “There’s no doubt that film makers and television directors are equally drawn to that again and again.” The scene has been used as far back as ‘Harry’s Game’ in 1982.

In the last four years, projects supported by Northern Ireland Screen have delivered £121 million in direct spend on goods and services: “Our primary purpose is to deliver direct economic value for Northern Ireland and we focus most of our resources on that.” Williams saw the potential for doubling that figure over the next four years.

The screen industries provide a wider portfolio of value i.e. representing identity and national pride, the context for inward investment, potential opportunities for young people. ‘Game of Thrones’ is broadcast in more than 70 countries around the world. It may receive less exposure in Northern Ireland, due to being shown on satellite TV, but it is the “most talked about show” in the USA and has been HBO’s best-seller internationally.

“Sometimes, I think that we’re worrying about the wrong thing,” he says of Northern Ireland’s troubled image. For several million people around the world, he said, their only impression of the province was ‘Game of Thrones’ and its characters.

As tourists, the cast, crew and their families are also visiting Benone Strand, Tollymore Forest Park, Castle Ward, Carrick-a-rede and the Dark Hedges. The National Trust is now highlighting “cottages fit for filming” at Castle Ward and Crom in County Fermanagh. This positive coverage is an “incredible bulwark” against the reality of continued disorder in Northern Ireland and local anxieties about that.

None of this happens by accident. Northern Ireland Screen has worked hard over the last year to keep the ‘Game of Thrones’ filming in the province. Advertising for films and programmes can be rolled out alongside tourism advertising about Northern Ireland.

“It does all come down to building more successful partnerships,” Williams noted and Northern Ireland is coming close to a “tipping point” in building “linkages and partnerships of equals” between organisations in the region. Northern Ireland Screen has helped the Tourist Board to set up a ‘Game of Thrones’ exhibition in Titanic Belfast which attracted 5,000 visitors per day.

All film and television output is intellectual property and therefore cannot be used freely. Tours, hotels and pubs need to be made more aware of the rules but, used properly, this can “add another layer” to the offering.

“Film and television production is, in a sense, tourism in its own right,” he commented. “Ask the restaurants and the hotels, and they will regard screen industries as tremendously important.”