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HOTELS & HOLLYWOOD BY ALLAN LYNCH
The Plaza Hotel, New York City, USA
The film French Girl has sent fans flocking to the Fairmont Le Château Frontenac. Released in spring 2024 French Girl follows Gordon Kinski, a high school teacher from Brooklyn, who goes with his chef girlfriend Sophie Tremblay to her hometown Quebec City where she tests for a position with a Michelin-star restaurant to be opened in the Fairmont Le Château Frontenac. It’s a taste-driven romantic comedy which has resonated with fans. Andree-Ann Groleau, Eastern Canada public relations director of Fairmont Le Château Frontenac and Fairmont The Queen Elizabeth says, “After the movie was released in theatres, special French Girl items were added to the Bistro Le Sam menu, as an ode of the type of food prepared in the movie.”
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San Domenico Palace, Taormina, Italy
French Girl isn’t the Chateau’s first time on the big and small screen. Alfred Hitchcock filmed I Confess here. And curiously, the Chateau also appeared in a hugely popular Korean TV series, Guardian: The Lonely and Great God. Groleau says the Korean audience response was so great it spurred the launch of a direct flight from Seoul to Quebec City! She says many guests confirm they are visiting after viewing a specific movie or series and request to see specific rooms shown on the screen. This is not an unusual response to a popular film or television series. Fans travel. After the Lord of the Rings film franchise was released so many fans flew to New Zealand they were nicknamed “Tolkien travellers.” Expedia Group says more than half of international clients’ travel plans are inspired by film and television shows. Screen tourism is so significant that in 2024 VisitBritain teamed up with the British Film Institute to harness the growth and highlight visitor experiences related to top international draws like Harry Potter, All Creatures Great and Small, Downton Abbey, Bridgerton and others. One beneficiary of this trend is Castle Howard which, thanks to Bridgerton, experienced a 3,400 per cent increase in 16-24-year-old visitors.