Film tourism refers to a post-modern experience at an attraction or destination which has been portrayed in ‘some form of media representation, such as the cinema screen, television or video’. Film-induced tourism occurs when a tourist visits ‘a destination or attraction as a result of the destination being featured on television, video, DVD or the cinema screen’.

Screen tourism, movie-induced tourism, and TV-induced tourism are other terms commonly used in association with this type of special interest tourism. Beeton categorizes film-induced tourism based on where the tourism activities occur, namely ‘on-film’ and ‘off-film’ induced tourism. ‘On-film’ induced tourism refers to tourism resulting from where a part of a film is shot and shown on the screen, while ‘off-film’ induced tourism refers to events or artificial destinations actualized through the involvement in films.

Film-induced tourism falls under the umbrella of cultural tourism as it represents the cultural heritage of a destination and may be considered an expression of visual arts and local traditions, with Kim et al.suggesting it has ‘great potential to advance cultural exchange and understanding’.

As an illustration of the size and extent of movies that are filmed away from traditional studios, the 11 Star War movies filmed between 1977 and 2019 utilized a number of location sites throughout the world, in addition to sound film studios in the United Kingdom and Australia. Locations included the countries of Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates, Norway, England, Guatemala, Switzerland, Australia, Italy, Thailand, Spain, Ireland, Bolivia, and the Maldives. Only two USA locations were used for filming, both in California, and outside of the traditional Los Angeles and Hollywood sites.

Similarly, many scenes in the six Mission Impossible movies spanning from 1996 to 2018 were filmed on location in various parts of the world, including Prague, Norway, Paris, London, Washington, Virginia, Sydney, Utah, Berlin, China, Vatican City, Morocco, Vienna, Kuala Lumpur, Budapest, Moscow Mumbai, Canada, and Dubai. Table 8.1 shows a variety of on-film and off-film-induced tourism.