group. The DMO has a less powerful stance here and will have to adapt their strategy in
order to align it to the vision of the film, which would reflect Hall’s idea of adaptive planning
(2008). This can be problematic if the genre or story of the film is negative. Tourism
in general is perceived to be the happy industry, and any image of a destination should be
portrayed in the most positive light in order to attract tourists. DMOs have been keen to
include the film industry in their decision-making process (through the attraction of film
producers), as evidenced in many cases (see CanagaRetna, 2007). VisitScotland provides
training for tourism professionals that wish to attract film crews in order to expand on the
long-term impacts of what they term “location tourism” (VisitScotland, 2007).
Another aspect here is what Beeton refers to as run-away production (2005), where films
are filmed in one location but depict another destination. The most prominent example
here is Braveheart which has contributed to an increase of tourism in Scotland, but has
primarily been filmed in Ireland. Again, for the purpose of sustainable tourism planning
that includes all stakeholders, the collaboration between DMOs and the film industry is
further made problematic by the geographical distance, and the measurement of impacts
of that type of filming is even more difficult to measure for the basis of tourism planning
and development. Nevertheless, VisitBritain has exploited opportunities with regard to
Master and Commander—none of the film has been shot in Britain, yet is has been
used to promote Britain’s naval heritage (Evans, 2004).