INTERACTIVE FUTURE FOR FILM LOCATIONS TOUR
THE creators of Australia’s first movie locations tour hope to expand the event into a year-round tourist drawcard.
First held last year, the Gold Coast Film Festival (GCFF) tour was expanded for its return during this year’s GCFF in April.
GCFF director Lucy Fisher said three-hour bus tour, which visited more than 20 film locations and celebrity hot spots, would continue to evolve as the Coast hosted more films.
“There is definitely an appetite for film tourism on the Coast,” she said.
“We believe it is a growth opportunity and the perfect way to leverage the work done by federal and state governments and the council in securing films to shoot here.”
The tour was realised with support from the council and Screen Queensland.
“It’s not just about one tour though — we’re currently scoping possible innovative ways to drive film tourism on the Gold Coast, including an augmented reality film location app that enables visitors to do selfguided drive or walk tours, with permanent markers at each location, and even filmspecific tours,” she said.
Village Roadshow Theme Parks executive general manager Bikash Randhawa said the location tour was a great initiative that benefited the whole of the city.
“Not only do guests get to see the locations, they also explore areas of the Coast which they might not have previously visited,” he said.