Summative Assessment 2: Film Tourism and Overcrowding Research Report

This report, submitted for TOU2013 at Middlesex University, investigates the key issues destinations face due to film tourism, particularly overcrowding. The research systematically explores the topic, starting with a clear research question and a critical literature review, defining film tourism and analyzing the impacts of overcrowding, using sources such as Bakiewicz et al. (2016) and Tanskanen (2012). The report includes an exercise on the process of systematic research and a netnography exercise using Durham Cathedral as a case study, analyzing data characteristics and decision-making rationale. Thematic analysis explores planning strategies, like vehicle charges and public transport, to manage tourism and promote fairytale authenticity. The report emphasizes the importance of collaboration, organized tours, and data-driven planning for sustainable tourism, as highlighted by authors like Hoppen et al. (2014) and Lovell (2019). The report suggests strategies to control visitor movement and protect the heritage site, ensuring long-term sustainability and visitor experience.

TOU2013 RESEARCHING PEOPLE AND PLACES
(Summative Assessment 2: Introducing Qualitative Research)
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Table of Contents
Exercise 1...................................................................................................................................3
Process of undertaking a systematic research............................................................................3
Critical literature review.............................................................................................................3
Exercise 2...................................................................................................................................6
Netnography...........................................................................................................................6
Part A..................................................................................................................................6
Part B..................................................................................................................................7
Reference list..............................................................................................................................9
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Exercise 1
Process of undertaking a systematic research
In this assignment, a contemporary issue about film tourism is searched systematically. First
of all, a clear and focused question is determined. In this study, the question is: What are
the key issues that are faced by destinations related to film tourism due to overcrowding?
After this process, a description of articles is prepared that can answer this question
properly. Different journals and articles that are related to film tourism are suitable for this
contemporary issue of film tourism. Different key concepts are determined that can address
various elements of this question. After this process, the discussion is done that whether
these elements can provide the best results or not. A proper database is chosen that can help
to find relevant literature to solve the research question. Google scholar is used in this case to
find articles and journals. Different key terms like challenges, film tourism, overcrowding are
used in this study. Moreover, Bramer et al. (2018) contradicted that adding variations in
search terms helps to gain various types of resources. Besides, those databases need to be
chosen where there is a parenthesis filed codes and boolean operators. The whole search
results are noted in a document and saved properly. This has helped in evaluating the
search results properly and errors in the search process are identified. Irreverent literature
and that literature with appropriate information about overcrowding in film tourism are
eliminated from the list. The final list has been used to prepare a critical literature review.
Critical literature review
Defining film tourism
It is a brunch of cultural tourism and it refers to increasing attraction level of locations that
have been used for shooting movies or television to tourists. As mentioned by Bakiewicz et
al. (2016), most of the modern people are enthusiastic about the film industry and there are
many travelers who are interested in visiting locations of film shootings. On the other hand,
Bramer (2018) has argued that tour operators try to attract their customers towards this kind
of place for earning extra benefits. However, this practice is disturbing the natural living
standard of local people of those spots. Overcrowding at film shooting spots has become one
of the rising problems of film tourism on this date.
Issue of Overcrowding at destination
Overcrowding at the locations of film shootings is a major issue of film tourism. According
to Tanskanen (2012), the privacy of the living of the local population is being hampered due
to freely wandering tourists. These kinds of places are not made for tourism purpose and for
this reason, local people of these sites fail to manage to overcrowd. For example, in Durham,
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UK, the Durham Cathedral is located and this is the place where the shooting of Harry Potter
has taken place. After the success of this film series, this church has become popular and
every year, a huge number of people are visiting this place. This is troubling the church
authority as this place is only for worship. The peace of this place is getting hampered due to
overcrowding. Generally, tourism creates an opportunity for the economic development of
destinations. However, Bakiewicz et al. (2016) have contradicted that most of the tourists
create noises that hamper the ambiance of the destinations. This place was removed from the
map shown in the movie on request. However, it has been found that tour operators are still
bringing their clients to this place.
Sometimes, overcrowding creates disturbances for tribal people. As stated by Polianskaia and
Răduț (2016), most of the tribes prefer to leave in separate society and they love their peace
of the living. It is important for tourists to respect their thoughts and privacy. Tanskanen
(2012) has argued that most of the tourists do not respect the privacy of the local population
and they hamper the living standard of locations that have been used for film shootings. For
example, in the book and the movies of Twilight, information regarding the local Native
American tribe has been mentioned. People praised this series and become interested to visit
the locations of the shooting of this movie series. It has been found that travelers are
wandering freely in the cemetery of this tribe. This incident has created dissatisfaction in this
tribal group as their privacy and values have been hampered by this activity. On the other
hand, Long and Morpeth (2016) have mentioned that overcrowding in a suddenly popular
location impacts the environment as well. It can be seen that overcrowding has reduced the
level of cleanliness of the destinations.
Effective solution
It is very essential for the agencies of tourism and local entrepreneurs to work in a
collaborative way (Hoppen et al. 2014). This can help them to offer the best service to
tourists and not disturbing local communities. Forming collaboration will help them to plan
wisely and organize tourism in a sustainable way. Moreover, Bąkiewicz et al. (2017), argued
that tours to film shooting sites must be done in an organized way through controlling the
movement of visitors. Generally, in an overcrowded area visitors enter some restricted areas
that create problems for the local population. Organized tours can control the movement of
visitors and ensure the satisfaction of local communities and new business opportunities can
evolve. Besides, Long and Morpeth (2016) contradicted that controlled movement of visitors
can help to eliminate overpressure in a site and services like accommodation and
entertainment can be provided properly.
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Tourism strategies need to be refined by the local administration regularly that can help to
increase capabilities. Local administration must build a data bank and update it regularly,
which can help them to measure the pressure of visitors in a destination (Pillai et al. 2019).
Developing the capability of analytics can help an administrator to conduct sustainable
planning. For example, proper planning is essential for Durham cathedral to control the
movement of visitors that can be done through the collection of data regarding visitors.
Measuring tourist's pressure can help to frame strategies regarding pollution control and
policies of tourism on that site. As argued by Polianskaia and Răduț (2016), involving all
sections of society is necessary to create a mechanism to control the overcrowding of a film
tourism destination.
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Exercise 2
Netnography
Part A
Dataset
Name of destination Durham Cathedral
Location Durham, England, United Kingdom
Found in 1093
Movies shot here Harry Potter: Chamber of Secrets, Prisoner
of Azkaban, Philosopher's stone
Ticket price Guided tour: £5.00
Admission to tower Adults: £5.00
Children: £2.50
Rank in top 20 lists of visit England 18th
Special event Lumiere
The crowd at a special event 175,000
Total number of visitors per year Approximately 700,000
Table 1: Sampled dataset
(Source: Durhamcathedral.co.uk, 2020)
Summary of data characteristics
From the collected data, it can be seen that the Durham Church is famous for its heritage and
special events. However, their popularity has risen suddenly after the success of the Harry
Potter series. The interior and exterior of Hogwarts have been shot here and this fact has
created the craze of visiting this place. The special events of this church are successfully
attracting approximately 175,000 people fortnight. Additionally, Harry Potter's fame is
ensuring more than 700,000 visitors every year (Durhamcathedral.co.uk, 2020). For
managing this crowd, the church authority has set a ticket system. For admission to the tower
of this church, different ticket amounts have been set for adults and children. The above-
mentioned data set is postulating that this fame has ensured the 18th rank for this cathedral on
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the top 20 list of visit England. As stated by Curtis (2016), this place has become the center
of attraction in England as people want to visit the places where the Harry Potter series has
been shot.
The rationale for decision making
It is very difficult to manage 700,000 people a year for the authority of the Durham
Cathedral. They are allowing tourists two to three times a day, which is supporting
overcrowding at this place. As suggested by Oriade and Cameron (2017), the authority of this
kind of location must restrict the entry of tourists. They can allow only one time for tourists
to protect the purpose of this church. On the other hand, this Church authority needs to create
rules for their visitors. For example, they may request visitors and tour operators to maintain
silence at the premises of the church. Visitors must be restricted to pollute the place. No
plastic or paper bags must be allowed inside the church. According to Lovell (2019),
everyone must respect the dignity of the destinations. This Church has been started in 1093
and since that time, they are carrying the heritage. They need to make people understand that
this place is for worship and it cannot be considered as a place of entertainment. They are
currently holding the 18th rank in the list of famous visiting places in England. As stated by
Curtis (2016), they need to focus on the purpose of opening this church and they must avoid
being tagged as a visiting place for film tourists to protect the peace of this place.
Part B
Thematic analysis
Planning for tourism in the worship places
Activities of tourism have become an essential source of income in religious places. These
activities help to generate funds, which can be used for conducting repair works and
maintenance (Calvert, 2018). Tourism acts as a catalyst to develop a location of worship by
developing small businesses and creating job opportunities in that site. Durham cathedral is a
spot of film tourism that has gained its popularity after the shooting of harry potter. This
cathedral and castle are situated at the southern end of the city and it has gained the status of
the world heritage site in the year of 1986. Overcrowding is a great issue in this heritage site.
About 500000 visitors visit this place every year but previously it has a capacity of only
140000 visitors. Different planning was done to manage the issues. This includes increasing
entering fee in the city, initiating admission fee in the cathedral and tower. Besides, the
vehicle charge was also introduced, which has reduced the number of vehicles in this spot
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from 2000 to 200 per day. This has ensured the collection of fun for the administration, which
has been used to develop the sport and region. As opined by Lovell (2019), proper
monitoring and assessment help in the planning process of a tourism destination. Proper
planning in Durham has led to the control of the movement of tourists and environmental
pollution. Initiating the vehicle charge has reduced the pressure of vehicles. Moreover,
facilities like public transport have been provided to tourists and local communities from the
collected funds. Small buses generally travel from the palace and cathedral to car park,
railway station, and other places.
Blooming tourism through fairytale authentication
A medieval historic environment like the castle and cathedral of Durham can increase
experiences of tourists by providing a fairytale authenticity. The cathedral and castle of
Durham are related with the fairytale of harry potter, which has increased its attractiveness
towards visitors. As said by Oriade and Cameron (2017), many visitors fantasize to visit
those places, which are generally seen or described in fairytales. Modern fairy tales like harry
potter has increased the importance of tourist location like Durham. The huge pressure of
tourists has facilitated blooming this location has a favorable tourist destination. Durham
cathedral is now considered one of the top 20 tourist attractions in the united kingdom. As
mentioned by Curtis (2016), investment needs to be done properly to facilitate tourists. This
is another supporting activity, which can help to bloom tourism in a place associated with
fairytales. In Durham Cathedral, significant investment is done to increase the experience of
visitors. An amount of £10million is spent to renovate buildings of the cathedral and
improving transportation facilities. Besides, lifts have been installed and ramps were built.
Other places like a dormitory of monks and kitchen are also displayed to the visitors to
authenticate the fairytale. Calvert (2018) stated that providing innovative facilities increases
the attractiveness of a tourism destination. This includes free admission, accommodation near
the spot and entertainment programs like exhibitions. In Durham, the exhibition is arranged
for the visitors and accommodation near the cathedral is built. However, due to the
overcrowding of tourists, free admission cannot be provided in this location of film tourism.
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Reference list
Bakiewicz, J., Leask, A., Barron, P. and Rakić, T., 2016. Using interpretation to manage film-
induced tourism at heritage visitor attractions. University of Brighton. 1(2). pp. 1-61.
Bąkiewicz, J., Leask, A., Barron, P. and Rakić, T., 2017. Management challenges at film-
induced tourism heritage attractions. Tourism Planning & Development, 14(4), pp.548-566.
Bramer, W.M., de Jonge, G.B., Rethlefsen, M.L., Mast, F. and Kleijnen, J., 2018. A
systematic approach to searching: an efficient and complete method to develop literature
searches. Journal of the Medical Library Association: JMLA, 106(4), p.531.
Calvert, A.J., 2018. ‘Durham Cathedral can be whatever you want it to be’: Examining the
negotiation of space and time. Ethnography, p.1466138118787211.
Curtis, S., 2016. English Cathedrals: events and spiritual capital. International Journal of
Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage, 4(2), p.3.
Durhamcathedral.co.uk. (2020). Home. Available at:https://www.durhamcathedral.co.uk/
[Accessed on 10th January, 2020]
Hoppen, A., Brown, L. and Fyall, A., 2014. Literary tourism: Opportunities and challenges
for the marketing and branding of destinations?. Journal of Destination Marketing &
Management, 3(1), pp.37-47.
Long, P. and Morpeth, N.D. eds., 2016. Tourism and the Creative Industries: Theories,
policies and practice. UK: Routledge.
Lovell, J., 2019. Fairytale authenticity: historic city tourism, Harry Potter, medievalism and
the magical gaze. Journal of Heritage Tourism, pp.1-18.
Oriade, A. and Cameron, H., 2017. Cathedral tourism. Special interest tourism: concepts,
contexts and cases, pp.40-51.
Pillai, S.K.B., Kamat, K., Scaglione, M., D’Mello, C. and Weiermair, K., 2019. Film tourism
and its impact on residents quality of life: A multi logit analysis. In Best practices in
hospitality and tourism marketing and management pp. 181-199
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Polianskaia, A. and Răduț, C., 2016. FILM TOURISM RESPONSES TO THE TOURIST'S
EXPECTATIONS-NEW CHALLENGES. SEA: Practical Application of Science, 4(1).
Tanskanen, T., 2012. Film tourism: Study on how films can be used to promote tourism.
Laure University of Applied Sciences. pp. 1-61.
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