Corso di geografia turistica

Unit E1

p.167

• Successful films and TV programmes fuel so-called film tourism, that is travel and holidays to locations where the events told on screen were played out or to places in some way related to the lives of film stars.
• Developed in the late twentieth century, this type of tourism involves the modern tourist or collector of memorabilia for whom the actual places are full of meaning, turning the trip into a pervasive experience. For this reason it is referred to as emotional geography.
• Many countries have turned movie sets, or the locations where movies and drama series have been set into a tourism resource, attracting large numbers of visitors. Specialist tour operators offer ad hoc packages for these locations. In the United Kingdom alone there are over 250 of them recorded.
• Traditional tourism cities, like Vienna, Prague or Paris, and more recent destinations, like Stockholm and Turkey, have increased their ability to attract tourists through this fascination with famous films.
• For art film apasionados there are countless tourism itineraries centred on the lives of famous directors.

Unit E2

p.173

• The Munich Oktobertest and the Frankfurt Book Fair are two examples of how events, that were not born with the aim of attracting tourists have been transformed into occasions of great tourism appeal, not only for the cities in which they take place but also for the surroundings areas.
• The Oktoberfest, which takes place every year, has maintained its character as a popular festival, linked to Germanic folklore and Bavarian identity. An organisational structure able to accommodate the 6 million visitors of recent years transforms the accessibility and services of Munich during the festival to enable the international event to take place, and turn it into a promotion event for the entire region of Bavaria.
• In Frankfurt, the historic Book Fair has now become a worldwide event that attracts not only trade professionals, but also a large audience interested not only in new publications but also in the events organised around the fair.

Unit E3

p.179

• Since 1985, the European Union chooses each year, from among the European cities that are candidates for the title, the one declared as the European Capital of Culture. In fact, in our continent there is an unparalleled concentration of artistic and cultural heritage, which confirms it as the principal worldwide tourism attraction.
• The European City of Culture event, which extends throughout an entire year, confirms that the combination of tourism and culture can generate long-term benefits. Promotional activities, urban planning and cultural and artistic productions, related to the history and territory, have “rejuvenated” the image of many cities, Liverpool and Tallinn for example, that were initially considered provincial and subsequently became destinations for tourism geography.
• Special European Commission committees evaluate the projects submitted by European cities nominated for the title. These project should enhance the local heritage through events that can attract tourists and generate growth in terms of employment, satellite industries, improvement in infrastructure and quality of life for their citizens.