Dublin has emerged as the 2nd highest European revenue earner from TV Tourism – which sees people holiday to filming locations of their favourite television programmes – because of its association with Game of Thrones.
A new study conducted by Tour Operator Software Provider Bókun – which is owned by Tripadvisor – has uncovered the TV shows which have had the biggest impact on European tourism over the years.
Set-jetting is one of the biggest travel trends influencing consumers today, seeing locations like Saltburn’s Drayton House soaring in search demand (+600%) since its release in December 2023. Visit Britain also revealed that 70% of UK tourists who have taken a leisure trip in the past decade have visited a film or TV location, highlighting the significant influence of media on tourism.
In light of this, Bókun has analysed review data for each TV show tour in Europe on Tripadvisor and Viator. This allowed it to estimate the total number of tourists booking each tour to assess the annual revenue they are bringing into their respective locations.
Dubrovnik, in Croatia, tops the list of European TV Tourism locations. A major Game of Thrones filming location, it has made an estimated tourism revenue of £18.2m on the back of the association with the popular TV series.
Dublin comes second – again, due to Game of Thrones – pulling in £3.2m in tourism revenue. Barcelona, Girona and Reykjavik also make the top 6, with Game of Thrones connections. Paris is the only non-GoT entry, with Emily in Paris making it over £1.5m in tourism revenue.
Belfast and Derry also made the list – earning more than 223,000 visitors and nearly £20m in tourism revenue combined through their association with Game of Thrones, Line of Duty, and Derry Girls.
