The impact of TV series on tourism performance: the case of Game of Thrones

TV series and cinema productions are considered one of the most recent and promising instruments to promote tourist destinations and to increase tourist flows. However, a few papers analyze empirically their impact on tourist choices. We contribute to the scarce literature by investigating the impact of one of the most successful TV series of all times: Game of Thrones (GoT). The series was internationally broadcasted and filmed around the world. We focus on fourteen filming locations in three different countries: Spain, Croatia and Malta. To estimate how much of their recent tourism performance is due to the visibility obtained through GoT, we use county-level panel data in the years 2007–2019 and apply an event study design as methodology. We deal with the issue of treatment effect heterogeneity over time and across counties by adopting an interaction-weighted estimator which focuses on season-specific treatment effect. The results show a positive and persistent impact of GoT on tourism performance, on both new tourist arrivals and overnight stays, and are not driven by spillover effects. Overall, findings confirm the ability of TV productions to boost the tourist flows in the filming locations.