Destination Management Organisation
DMOs have a high interest and high power in influencing the development of a film
tourism destination as it represents a new opportunity—be that for an existing, emerging or new destination—and this interest has been highly investigated in most literature outlined above. The importance and potential success of films as part of product placement in the marketing process has been briefly discussed above.
Close cooperation between DMOs and the film industry proposing to use the destinationas a location is essential to assure the sustainable planning of tourism development. DMOs have little or no control over how, or for whom, the destination is presented through commercial films. Even if destination planners are involved in the early stages of the filmmaking process, they would have no influence over the filming, storyline, cinematography, or other aspects of the film and thus would have no influence over the audience or target 38 S. Heitmann 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).