Travel meets film

Picturesque fall scenery in Altay, Xinjiang. (Photo: People.cn)

The tourism and film industries never seem to get too far from each other. In fact, the relationship between the duo is often described as two close friends or even lovers by some. In order to take a closer look at how the two sides can benefit from each other, a forum bringing officials and experts in both industries together to discuss cooperation trends was held on Wednesday during the 1st Silk Road International Film Festival in Xi'an, Shaanxi Province.

It's quite easy to find successful examples where films aid tourism. After the commercial success of Feng Xiaogang's If You are the One, which featured scenes taking place at the Xixi Wetlands, the scenic spot became a must-go destination in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province.

"The Xixi Wetlands received 920,000 visitors and earned a revenue of about 40 million yuan ($6.5 million) in 2008. It then witnessed a 330 percent growth in 2009 after the movie hit cinemas... A successful movie is very helpful in promoting a travel destination," Mao Xinying, director of the Xixi Creative Industry Park, explained at the forum.

Mao also raised a more recent case in which tourism on Dongji Island in Zhejiang Province bloomed after writer-turned-director Han Han's movie The Continent was released this summer. During this month's week-long National Day Holiday, some travelers were unable to book tickets to the island because all tickets had been sold-out.

Besides places to create films, film studios have also become popular tourist destinations, such the film studio in Hengdian, Zhejiang Province which is hugely popular among film fans.

"However, not every film studio can become successful. Chinese like to follow trends and just copy successful cases. However, they tend to over-estimate themselves, which finally leads to huge losses. Creativity should be the most important thing in this industry," said Wei Xiao'an, an expert from the World Tourism Cities Federation.

"We should study successful cases, instead of simply copying them. [The film studio in] Hengdian has met general demand, and the Changchun [film town] has set a precedent, while the Universal Studios theme park about to be built in Beijing shows that there will be demand in the future."

Martin Stawarz, a vice president with the UNSCR Asia Film and Art Association, said that China has become a target market in Western film investors' eyes. "Some blockbusters in China have already surpassed those in the US and have earned great commercial success. Some predict that according to existing figures China will pass the US as the largest film market by 2018," he shared with the Global Times.

Despite past successes, there are those that think cooperation between the two industries needs improvement. "It looks like the relationship between tourism and film industry is very close, but in fact, only a few film producers care about tourism during production and only a few people in the tourism industry are actually involved in producing movies," said Jin Tiemu, a documentary director whose work The Pilgrimage: Journey of Xuanzang was selected as a national gift to India.

"It's hard to find a certain film that makes you strongly associate with Xi'an, Beijing, Guangzhou, Shanghai or other Chinese cities," said Jin. "We produce so many films every year, but we still haven't made films that identify with certain Chinese cities."

As for how movies could become more identified with cities, at the forum, Edward Burman, a British documentary director based in Beijing, explained that creating a connection between a certain city and characters would help.

Burman used Sherlock Holmes as an example. "He's fictional and the place he lives is fictional. But after the government built a new house at 221B Baker Street in London, millions of people went there every year. The Sherlock Holmes movies take the city of London in the 19th century as their background, a dirty city filled with smog. Even today some tourists that go to London ask why there's no smog."

Burman pointed out that films build an impression of a city among people who have never been there, and help ignite their curiosity about it. This is also why he mentioned that sometimes a "negative sometimes can be a positive." He used the example of the mockumentary Borat, a comedy that was banned in nearly the entire Arab world and Russia in 2006 for its offensiveness. But in 2012, Kazakhstan Foreign Minister Yerzhan Kazykhanov said: "I am grateful to Borat for helping to attract tourists to Kazakhstan," as the film had ended up increasing the number of visas to the country by 10 times.

Jin also said that more government support is needed for film producers in China. "It's complicated to get permission to film in some places in China. Even though some local governments offer bonuses for films that create positive images for their cities, that comes too late for producers. My hope is that we can receive help from local tourism departments right from the beginning of production."