Tolkein Experience: Understanding the Power of Mythology in Film Tourism

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Figure 1 Geography of Middle Earth

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Note. Adapted from (Taylor, 2015)

Economics, Social-cultural & Environmental factors (TBL)

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Economic

Based on the concept of triple bottom line, economically, total visitors’ arrivals to New Zealand has tremendously soar by 6.1% in 2013 from the past decade (see Figure 2). Doubtlessly, it was corresponded to the first film The Fellowship of the Ring that had released in 2001 drew the attention of the potential tourists to spanking new guided tour around the movie site that was publicly commenced in 2002. The flock has incessantly increased ever since after gaining worldwide recognition of the next sequel of the film The Return of the King. This clarifies that film as a promotional tool is a medium to reach a vast group of people in a non-commercialised environment as well as the frequency of the film release affects destination promotion (Carl, 2004, p. 42).

Figure 2 International Visitor Growth 2003 to 2013

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Note. Adapted from (Lees, 2014, p. 2)

Shows the trilogy The Lord of the Rings as a factor matches the lift of the economy in New Zealand and influenced the decision to visit New Zealand. Likewise, resurgence mostly from western hegemonic visitors.

Figure 3 Responses to the “The Lord of the Rings” means to visitors should lead visitor resurgence

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Note. Adapted from (Lees, 2014, p. 7)

Certainly, the success of the film has economically benefited the local community as well. It has boosted their job opportunities and their economy financially.

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Social-cultural

Social-culturally, film tourism represented as a cultural text. The cultural representation in film can impact the welfare of the people socially and politically as how it influenced knowledges and beliefs of individuals. As a matter of fact, there was a controversy about authenticity film tourism. Arguably, tourists are looking for authenticity knowing that it might be a staged authenticity. Film tourism faces the challenges of the actual geographical locations differ from the fictional setting in the film. For that reason, visiting tourists might not be able to distinguish the reality and fantasy (Buchmann, 2010, p. 83). According to (Wang, 1999), defines authenticity in tourism in three aspects: Objective, Constructive and Existential. Filmic tourists can be categorized in constructive authenticity because the film has obviously give some form of symbolic value to the viewers. Therefore, film tourism gives wonderful examples of the concepts of authenticity and mythology where imagination can be commodified as a heritage for the sake of tourism.

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Environmental

On an environmental prospect, understanding that film tourism is likely threatened by stagnation, however it is fundamental to have rejuvenation and introduction of new attractions.

Tourist Experience: Motivations, Expectations and Satisfaction.

The tourist experience is the source of many memories which tourist forms when visiting and consuming during the time given in a tourist location. It is also based on an individual’s perception, demands, motivations, and expectations to attain a level of utmost satisfaction where they considered it as an “amazing experience”.

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Motivation

The destination becomes a stimuli if one’s perception matches with their personal needs, he/she will be motivated to visit the location. It is postulated that, people visit the film site to relive the experience encountered on the movie, as well as obtain a component of celebrity status. It is very common that people encountered existential crisis after watching the film has propelled them visit the site. According to (Iso-Ahola, 1982), she defines the “push and pull” scheme gives a perceptive approach about the motivations underlying film tourist’s behaviour. It can be acknowledge that deep psychological motivations affect an individual’s desire. For instance, films with negative story outline will potentially discourage the visiting. In the model has argued that tourist is in search for an escapade to escape their personal environments to achieve a self-actualization. Hence, the experience is the accomplishment/reward of the travel (Beeton, 2006, pp. 186-187).

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Expectations

In a film-induced tourism perspective, the expectations of an experience are often created by images and beliefs that derived from the films. Expectations are highly subjective as the case study The Lord of the Rings medieval landscapes as their tourism promotion image of New Zealand. It was presume that the frequency of the films were viewed would substantially impact upon the expectations. For instance, a person watched The Lord of the Rings over 10 times would rather have a high expectations on how the landscape will look like and on the occasion that the reality did not meet the expectations, it could lead to huge disappointment and dissatisfaction (Carl D. S., 2004, p. 41).

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Satisfaction

Based on tourism literature, tourists are motivated by escaping or pull factors to fulfil a need, otherwise, to gain a satisfying experience from travel. As irony as it sounds, satisfaction is a post consumption evaluative judgement, when tourist satisfaction based on the result of the reciprocal between the expectations and the tourist’s experience. The level of satisfaction varies on the tourist’s welfare of feelings. Those who feel appeased are because they have experienced a preponderance of satisfying experiences. To achieve a level of beyond satisfaction, also known as delighted is when one is able to articulate the experiential response emotionally, otherwise known as attaining the level of cognitive affective conation (Agapito, Valle, & Mendes, 2013, pp. 471-481). Based on the SERVQUAL framework (Daniel & Berinyuy, 2010), it is vital to understanding the expectations

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