Hollywood is good for business, including the tourism business in the UK. In a new report released today, locations used in many films such as the Harry Potter series are a big draw, and have led to a boost for the tourism industry, with fans flocking to locations such as Alnwick Castle in large numbers. The beautiful castle, used as a setting for Hogwarts, “led to a 120% rise in visitors to Northumberland’s Alnwick Castle, and had brought about £9m worth of tourism to the region,” reports the BBC.
Other locations in Scotland and England are also very popular, such as the King’s Cross train station in London (and popular with certain PotterCasters who paid a visit there in July). At this station, reports the Independent, there is a plaque marking “Platform nine and three quarters” in response to the huge visitor demand to know where schoolchildren heading for the Hogwarts school depart.”
Settings used in not only the Harry Potter films, but others such as The Da Vinci Code, Braveheart, Pride and Prejudice (both the latest film version and the classic mini-series with Colin Firth), Monty Python and the Holy Grail, and hit tv series Monarch of the Glen have resulted in a boost to the UK economy “to the tune of £1.8bn,” and the trend is likely to continue.
“There are countless examples of visitors flocking to locations they’ve seen in films or on TV and the effect can last for years. Margaret Hodge, the minister for film and tourism, said it was “terrific” that the locations of successful fims were “becoming destinations in their own right as people seek to relive their favourite movie moments”.
You can learn more about traveling to these locations via the VisitScotland and, Visit Britain websites.
we do have many places used in filming in the UK and it does have such a “massive history” I am glad to see that people want to see our “historic locations” and “film locations” there is much to see and learn.
I am proud that we do still have something for visitors to view.
I so agree. I have promised my kids that we will go to England either summer 2010 or 2011 and spend a couple weeks going to see all the locations that are in the movies. I’m sure we won’t see averything. I think many of the areas are pretty far from one another.
One of the unexpected pluses of the HP films is that it has really gotten my kids interested in other cultures, especially those in Europe. I think it’s good for them to realize that the US (though I love it) isn’t the only country on the planet :)
My mom had “decided” we should go to Salisbury Cathedral and also to surprise me because there’s a part in the cathedral, a corridor, that was used in the CoS film where the trio are walking down and having that “So you really think there’s a Chamber of Secrets” conversation! As soon as I walked down it I recognized it lol. Salisbury is beautiful, by the way.
On our visit to Scotland in June we visited the Glenfinnan viaduct, the arched bridge crossed by the Hogwarts Express in a few of the movies, and climbed the path behind the visitors center to the place where Harry sits with Hedwig overlooking Loch Shiel in one of the cut scenes. There is a dirt road that goes right under the viaduct it and we hiked up the hillside alongside it. We also found the plaque in Edinburgh commemorating where JKR wrote the first book. We received some amused looks as we took pictures of it. It was so high up on the building that I could barely get the plaque and my kids’ heads into one shot. It’s a pretty funny picture.
You are absolutely right, Katarina, some of the locations are pretty far apart. Maybe not to American standards, but for instance Alnwick Castle is near the Scottish border, and Gloucester Cathedral (great in its own right btw.) is about 500 or 600 km to the south. But somewhere in between is the Yorkshire village trainstation where some of the Hogwarts Express scenes were filmed and there’s Oxford. In Oxford, that lovely city, a room in one of the colleges was used as a design for the great hall at Hogwarts.
I was a ‘fan’ of England way before Harry Potter. But I suppose, as I live in the Netherlands, going on holiday there is much easier for me than for many of you who live in the US.
I had been wanting to see Alnwick Castle for ages, ever since I heard that parts of that great TV series from the 1980s ‘Robin of Sherwood’ were filmed there. And then of course the HP movies were filmed there and I finally decided I had to go, so I combined it with my holiday to Hadrian’s Wall (the 2000 year old remnants of the wall built by Roman emperor Hadrian to mark the northern boundary of the Roman empire). Not to be missed if you are ever in the area.
My family took the HP Fan Trips to Scotland and England in 2005 and it was a fantastic trip! We got to see so many of the sites from the movies and ride the Hogwarts Express. The tour guides and special banquets were wonderful. It was the trip of a lifetime. If you are thinking of taking an HP trip, make it this one!
I am from the US but moved to England and I remember going to Salisbury Cathedral and my sisters and I acting out the whole “is there really a CoS” convorsation. Wow and we went to a ton of other places… so many I can’t even name them all. Then we moved back to the US and so we went to England on holiday in 2005… we were down in Southern England but I made my parents promise we could go to @ least 1 HP film site… so I scoured over maps for days trying to find the best place… I chose Alnwick Castle, it turns out it was like a 5 hr drive but it was amazing… there actually turned out to be a lot more stuff filmed there then I thought there was so it turned out really well. The grass out front was even dead from where the tarp for Hagrid’s Hut was in the 5th one from when they were filming it.
Ron had grabbed Harry's forearm and pulled the back of Harry's hand up level with his eyes. There was a pause, during which he stared at the words carved into the skin, then he released Harry, looking sick...[br]"That old hag!" said Ron in a revolted whis
Its nice to see movies have an impact on the local economy.