Managing a sustainable film tourism industry

This study looks at developments in the film tourism industry in Aotearoa New Zealand, and particular its sustainable development (SD). This study analysed the official Internet presence of 15 selected Lord of the Rings-tour operators by checking their home pages and related sub pages for comments relating to SD issues with further data drawn from a qualitative, four year research project into the film tourism experience, and interviewed more than fifty people involved in the film tourism including writers, government officials, business owners, film industry employees, tour operators and guides, about their experiences. The study shows that the majority of tour operators do not make any mention of SD issues on their web pages though there were some exceptions. Furthermore, the emphasis in developing SD practices within the film tourism industry seems clearly on environmental aspects though a sustainable development of tourism will require a three pronged approach of economic as well as environmental and social sustainability