Film tourism might be an ambiguous term, but it refers to the idea that every time a specific location or destination is used in a film, the film indirectly promotes the destination to its viewers.
“This has been evident within the Bollywood film market,” says Mark Visser of the Cape Film Commission, noting the many Bollywood films that have been shot on location in South Africa. South Africa has the largest settlement of expatriate Indians in the world. Visser says that many Indian tourists decide on their next foreign vacation after seeing the destinations in the films.
As Cape Town continues to gain popularity as a film destination — for movies, commercials and other productions — more international travellers are likely to consider the city as a vacation destination. In this way, the film industry contributes to the tourism industry.
According to the Cape Film Commission’s impact assessment report, released this year, the film industry generated about 252 000 bed-nights in the Western Cape, 10,7% of the province’s total 2,36-million bed-nights.
“Furthermore, the film industry integrates employment-intensive sectors such as catering and accommodation, creating indirect jobs and providing business for these sectors,” says Visser.
Jacques Stoltz, senior marketing manager at the Gauteng Film Commission, agrees. “With increasing local and international interest and demand for Gauteng-based productions and content, tourism and the hospitality industries stand to benefit significantly. Based on research by Deloitte Consulting, we know that the multiplier effect of the film industry is estimated to be 2,5. This means that the current industry turnover of roughly R1-billion in the province creates an economic impact in excess of R2-billion.
“We see the emergence of a strong, creative film, TV and new media cluster as key to the overall regional competitiveness of Gauteng.”
One of the reasons why film production has become so popular in Cape Town is industry efficiency — it offers First World resources and services. “It is a relatively easy and cheap destination for production,” says Visser. “The more commercials and features that are shot here, the better the Western Cape’s [and South Africa in general] reputation among international producers and filmmakers.”
Emphasising the point, Visser says: “Consider [the fact] that the South African-Canadian co-production sci-fi series, Charlie Jade, indirectly offered Cape Town 22 hours [22 one-hour episodes] of free advertising.”
While Cape Town hosted the bulk of feature film productions, research done by the Commercial Producers’ Association indicates that Gauteng-based production companies still ruled the roost in TV and commercial production.
Gauteng-based commercial production companies produced 29 commercials per company for the 2004/05 period, compared with 13 commercials per company in the Western Cape. This amounted to 43% of all commercials filmed in South Africa during that period, at an average budget of R1 025 723,19. Gauteng also accounts for 70% of the total value of TV work done in the country.
Location fees generally are still low across the province and the Gauteng Film Commission has been trying to ensure that municipalities apply a fair permit fee by working with them on the adoption of a standardised permit application procedure. The commission provides a free permit and location inquiry service to the industry.
Not to be outdone is KwaZulu-Natal, which also boasts idyllic locations and is known already as “South Africa’s playground”.
The Durban Film Office’s Mandle Ndimande says an economic impact assessment of the local industry has not been done yet, because he feels it needs time to grow still. “We are positioning ourselves as the local production capital as we believe in our local stories. We are putting more emphasis on the development of our local industry in the hope of producing more content from this region.”
KwaZulu-Natal’s trump card is the Durban International Film Festival, of which there have been 28. It showcases more than 300 films, many of them locally produced, and hosts several directors and filmmakers.
We invite many filmmakers from outside South Africa and also from outside the province,” says Nashen Moodley, the festival’s manager. “There are people who travel from elsewhere in the country to come and watch films and, more recently, people from Europe. In some cases, there are filmmakers who have decided to do projects after they have been here. One director, who won the best film prize a few years ago, is back here to research a film project. Sometimes these things take a long time to come to fruition, but they eventually have an effect.”
Additional reporting by Jaqueline Holman