Around 180 staff are employed at the site, which also works with local businesses to bring in goods and services, and offers training opportunities in the creative industries, construction and tourism sectors to local schools and colleges.
Conclusion
Game of Thrones and its associated screen tourism has had a huge impact on Northern Ireland. Not only has it brought money into the local economy and generated new jobs, but it has also helped change perceptions of the country. Northern Ireland has, historically, been associated with the Troubles – armed conflict between Catholic Irish Republicans and Protestant Loyalists between the 1960s and the late 1990s that cost over 3,600 lives. The Troubles have been intrinsically linked with Northern Ireland’s heritage and a tourism industry has been built up based around the conflict, with murals and sites commemorating the Troubles appearing on various bus tours around Belfast. Mention was made of this period of Ireland’s history on both Games of Thrones Tour tours, but these were usually followed by a comment on how people from Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland were coming together thanks, in large part, to Game of Thrones. Aligning Northern Ireland so closely with Westeros, as well as a sustained marketing campaign by Northern Ireland Screen and Tourism Ireland, means that the negative perceptions of the country and the Troubles have been superseded by the show and tourism is as much influenced by popular culture as it is history.[7]
The final season of Game of Thrones aired in 2019. While a prequel series was ordered by HBO, filming has mainly taken place in Spain, Cornwall and Derbyshire. Still, Game of Thrones remains a draw for visitors. On the tours I went on there were fans from Ireland, the UK, Spain and the US and while numbers have decreased from the height of the show’s popularly, caused in part by the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, it would be no surprise if the series does for Northern Ireland what Lord of The Rings did for New Zealand and ensures a steady stream of fan tourists for years to come.
This research was funded by the University of York.
[1] Bolan, P. and Ghisoiu, M. (2019). Film Tourism through the Ages: From Lumière to Virtual Reality. In I. Yeoman & U. McMahon-Beattie (eds.) The Future Past of Tourism: Historical Perspectives and Future Evolutions, pp. 236-252. Bristol: Channel View Publications.
[2] See, for example, Waysdorf, A. S. (2021). Fan sites: Film tourism and contemporary fandom. Iowa: University of Iowa Press; Reijnders, S. (2011). Stalking the count: Dracula, fandom and tourism.”Annals of Tourism Research 38(1): 231-248; Kim, S. (2012). Audience involvement and film tourism experiences: Emotional places, emotional experiences. Tourism Management 33(2): 387–396.
[3] See, for example, O’Connor, N. & Kim, S. (2014). Pictures and prose: Exploring the impact of literary and film tourism. Journal of Tourism and Cultural Change 12(1): 1–17; Beeton, S. (2001). Lights, camera, re-action: How does film-induced tourism affect a country town? In: M.F. Rogers & Y.M.J. Collins (eds.), The future of Australia’s country towns, pp. 172–183. Bendigo: La Trobe University; Torchin, L. (2002). Location, location, location: The destination of the Manhattan TV Tour. Tourist Studies 2(3): 247–266.
[4] Pine, B. J. & Gilmore, J. H. (1999). The Experience Economy: Work is Theatre & Every Business a Stage. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.
[5] St-James, Y., Darveau, J. & Fortin, J. (2018). Immersion in film tourist experiences. Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing, 35(3): 273-284.
[6] Williams, R. (2019). Funko Hannibal in Florence: Fan tourism, participatory culture, and paratextual play. JOMEC Journal, 14: 72.
[7] See Doppelhofer, C. (2023). Overcoming the Troubles in Westeros: changing perceptions of post-conflict Northern Ireland through the diegetic heritage of Game of Thrones. Social & Cultural Geography: 1-21.
