Paying the Iron Price? Exploring the tourism potential of Game of Thrones for Northern Ireland

The aim of this paper is to investigate the potential that ‘Game of Thrones’ could create for Northern Ireland if positioned appropriately as a television/film tourism destination. The investigation of potential... [ view full abstract ]

The aim of this paper is to investigate the potential that ‘Game of Thrones’ could create for Northern Ireland if positioned appropriately as a television/film tourism destination. The investigation of potential opportunities for destination development and enhancement through global online research, mainly netnography, undertaken with the fan-base of the show, as well as exploring best practice from a well-established film tourism destination New Zealand. This is further supplemented with analysis of key informant interviews conducted with a number of industry stakeholders who have recently begun Game of Thrones tours and activity based experiences. The paper will proceed with a review on the film tourism phenomenon and the growth of the film and television industry in Northern Ireland before examining the key findings under study.