Hollywood inspires 'movie tourism' claims Lastminute.com, as La La Land surges LA search
Movies open up viewers to a world of possibilities introducing them to people, places and scenarios they may not have otherwise experienced.
Ryan Gosling in La La Land
Data from Lastminute.com has revealed that there's a significant boost in movie tourism around popular movie releases – if the location is represented positively.
The travel booking site has shared with The Drum the following data: Oscars Best Picture nominee La La Land inspired a surge in Los Angeles searches on the site by 21% on the week of its release in comparison with the previous week.
Similarly, Martin Scorcese's recently released film Silence, featuring Adam Driver and set in the beautiful climes of 17th century Japan, inspired a 46% boom in queries scouting out the land of the rising sun.
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them surged searches for flights to New York by 67% from the UK in the seven days after the film was released.
Similarly, the company revealed that searches for ski holidays were up a modest 10% around the release of Eddie the Eagle, a humorous biopic centred around Great Britain ski-jumping legend Eddie 'the Eagle' Edwards.
Alessandra Di Lorenzo, chief commercial officer, advertising and partnerships, at Lastminute.com Group, said: “Awards season may not be the most obvious travel trigger, but it offers the opportunity for brands to delve deeper than demographics and target by passion.
“From film buffs to sporadic cinema goers, films have the power to ignite a little travel passion in all of us, which can drive us to do exciting and unexpected things.
"And it’s not just travel brands that can benefit from the desire to get away. Smart advertisers can tap into this passion and offer inspiration at every stage of the booking journey, from where to stay to how to nail the latest LA look.”
With the data, marketers can use big budget Hollywood movies to anticipate interest in respective areas.