Three films that helped put Asia on the production map

The region is quickly becoming the choice du jour for Hollywood filmmakers looking for exotic locales and cheaper production costs.

Film tourism is a modern trend. Around the world, many are jetting off to see in person the locations that captured their hearts on film.

The sprawling city of King’s Landing in HBO’s hit series “Game of Thrones” have brought tourists flocking to Croatia’s Dubrovnik in recent years – so many, in fact, that it aided the country’s recovery from a recession, according to Quartz. At the other end of the world, tourists are still making stops at Hobbiton over a decade after the enormously popular Lord of The Rings trilogy hit the big screen.

Asia, too, has experienced its share of movie-inspired tourism – and countries have been cashing in.

Here are three well-known films that have helped boost tourism in Asia.

1.Eat, Pray, Love

With its picturesque rice paddies and gorgeous beaches, Indonesia’s island of Bali served as the final destination in divorcee Elizabeth Gilbert’s journey of self-discovery in the 2010 film “Eat Pray Love”, based on the memoir of the same name.

As a result of the book and film, scores of tourists have made their way to Bali to retrace Gilbert’s steps, helping tourism on the island to recover after a long dark spell following the 2002 Bali bombings, according to the Associated Press. At one point, resorts and spas even offered “Eat, Pray, Love” packages and tours, which included activities like yoga classes, massage therapy and excursions to locations featured in the film, Time reported.

Indonesia was not the only country with specially created Eat, Pray, Love tours. Tour operators also created packages to India, the second of the three countries visited by Gilbert, in the hope that the film would give tourism a boost.

Read full article published by The Nation, 30 March 2018.