Dr Nicola MacLeod and Raymond Powell from the University of Greenwich, working with several overseas partners, and thanks to key ERASMUS+ funding and partnership, have produced a new handbook focused on Pop Culture tourism, a subsection of cultural tourism.
Pop Culture tourism differs from traditional cultural tourism in that the more established venues and art forms, such as museums and traditional heritage, are replaced with more current cultural reference points such as visiting locations from recent films or tv series as well as key musical landmarks and events.
There are many forms of pop culture tourism, but the three main varieties are: literary, film and tv and music.
When it comes to film and tv tourism, it is the established, long-running shows and films that attract the most interest. In addition to this, period dramas and sci-fi themed productions have a perfect mix of visuals and costumes to be amongst the most popular reasons for visiting a specific location.
Literary tourism is based on either fictional or real locations central to popular books, or popular authors.
Music tourism is the most varied of the three, including music festivals and events, as well as significant locations to music evolution. The most popular of the three varieties, music tourism is defined simply as traveling with the intent of enjoying music.
As culture and media become more and more accessible and therefore more global, the world’s population is exposed to images, sounds and words from the furthest reaches of Earth.
The handbook goes on to make key recommendations for how to best utilise pop culture tourism assets and how to market them to make the most of them.
Nicola MacLeod, says
‘It’s important for tourism businesses to understand the power of popular culture and to know how to utilise the themes that exist in their local region, whether they be widely recognised or targeted at a more niche audience. As we come out of the global Covid 19 pandemic, domestic tourism will remain a popular option and pop culture tourism will be a useful and cost-effective way for destinations to reinvent and refresh their offering for both local and overseas visitors. Music, film, and literary themes have universal appeal and there are few places which don’t boast at least some pop culture connections.’
Raymond Powell, says:
‘This handbook shows the fantastic opportunities which pop culture tourism offers everyone to take advantage of the things which are around us all the time. A better understanding of what pop culture is helps us to understand and enjoy the richness of our environments whilst promoting tourism in sustainable ways and involving local communities. It’s a great celebration of localism on an international stage, and enormous fun. Pop culture constantly updates itself and has something for everyone.’
See the full handbook here: https://www.popculturetourism.eu/
