Political & Civil Unrest, Conflict & Terrorism

I think Hollywood and the media provides a bigger impact on tourism than we care to realize. I’m sure everyone has seen a movie or a TV show and made the decision that they want to go to the location it was filmed at or stay away because of it. This can be dangerous but not completely stopped. Stopping the production of movies and TV would be detrimental to many economies, which just wouldn’t be practical.

The same can be said with the expansion of “influencers” on social media. These people make a point to influence people to do things or see places without people being conscious of it. Most times, it showcases a very specific part of a location, leaving out a lot of important information and cultural norms. It usually only showcases the highlights, as well.

An approach that can be made to combat the negative portrayal of some of these places, such as Iran, is to make a director’s cut or a behind the scenes of these movies and TV series. By doing this, the director, actors, and crew can talk about their experiences shooting the film in different location. It may not reach a broad audience as some people won’t care to dig into some of the films they watch, but those interested can get an understanding of what it was like for them in their filming locations. This gets rid of any ambiguity or unrest while giving the crew an opportunity to share the truth about these locations.

It’s also important for the media to do their best to share places for what they are without any bias. Something I’ve always liked was following or looking at photographers who travel and showcase their entire trip with an article or captions on the photos that explain the frame. In my experience, the most realistic depictions of these places come from “street photographers”, or those who capture the people and culture of their travels as raw as possible.