Written by David Lewis on Nov 24, 2009. Posted in Production News

The location power of Bollywood

In a first, prominent Bollywood producer and actor Shah Rukh Khan has been signed by the Korean Tourism Organisation as its cultural ambassador to promote tourism and to encourage Indian filmmakers to shoot in Korea. Korean Consul General, Dong Yern Kim, explained: "I am confident that Shah Rukh Khan’s appointment will enhance awareness and interest about Korea among his fans."

Using Bollywood as tourist bait is not a new phenomenon however. It is well known that if you lure Bollywood filmmakers with generous hospitality and incentives, the movie will act as a powerful advertisement for India’s outbound tourist market which is growing at the second fastest rate in the world.

Yash Chopra, the man who launched film tourism’s Indian chapter, has seen its effects for a while. Chopra regularly used the UK and Switzerland as the backdrop for his lavish films and thanks to him, Indian tourist traffic to Switzerland spiralled by almost 30%. Similarly, after Rakesh Roshan shot Kaho Naa Pyaar Hai in New Zealand, the Desi footfall went up hugely. Roshan was even honoured by the New Zealand prime minister for promoting tourism.

Recently, the Singapore Tourism Board invested USD6.3 million under its Film in Singapore scheme that subsidises international film productions by up to 50%. Krrish was the first Bollywood film to opt for this scheme. The annual Indian tourist traffic to Singapore immediately after its release lept from 6 million to 7 million.

Lately, there’s been a change in the Bollywood list of favourite locales. Switzerland and Dubai are no longer as popular as they used to be and Thailand now tops the list of favourites with South Africa a close second. Others include Mauritius, the US, the UK, Nambia, Canada, Italy, Austria and Sri Lanka.

"More and more countries are aggressively wooing Bollywood to shoot their films," says producer Rajat Rawail. "Israel, Ireland and Poland are the three new players. Then there’s Fiji Islands, whose government is even willing to give producers a payback of 35% of the cost incurred on shooting. All of them have realised that the exposure their countries gets through our films is huge."

Locations director Sudhanshu Hukku, a company that organises destinations for filmmakers, adds: "Today the world is taking cognisance of the fact that Indian films do leverage huge tourism. The Indian film industry, the world tourism boards and film commissions need to work together. They need to work out Indian film specific incentives such as tax rebates, subsidies, air fare support etc, which provide opportunities through in-film branding for tourism."

India however has been unable to similarly promote itself through outside films. Although the government has sanctioned nearly 19 international projects to be shot in India, there is still a lot of reluctance because of the red tape involved. Udaishankar Pani, line producer for Gandhi and Salaam Bombay, says, "It is getting extremely difficult to shoot in India because of the red tapism and the number of clearances one has to seek."

With thanks to The Times of India and Locations.