THE BIG ISSUE The Big Issue - 11 January 2016 | Page 19

ECONOMICS
WorldMags.net
Spot the difference:
Grand Theft Auto’s Los
Santos and Los Angeles
ANALYSIS / JACK PEAT
Game on for virtual tourism as the
‘consoliday’ makes a grab for your pound
D
og walkers in the Forest of
Dean, Gloucestershire,
have been given quite a
fright since the release of
the seventh instalment of
the Star Wars franchise.
Stormtroopers have been convening in
Puzzlewood and have even been spotted
surfing the Severn Bore in full attire.
But locals needn’t be concerned.
The Stormtroopers have been invited
to the area as part of an initiative by the
Wye Valley and Forest of Dean Tourism
Association, which is looking to capitalise
on the release of the The Force Awakens.
Part of the seventh instalment was filmed
in the picturesque woodland area, which
is the oldest oak forest in England and
supposedly inspired the forests in the works
of JRR Tolkien. In the same vein as the
Northern Ireland tourism board, which saw
tourism boosted by £8.6m in 2014 thanks to
Game of Thrones, and London, where one in
10 overseas tourists visit because of iconic
film locations, this triangular plateau of
woodland is looking to make a return on its
international stardom.
Film tourism generates approximately
£2.1bn for the UK economy, and January is
the busiest time of year for holiday bookings
but it’s not just the flicks that are boosting
tourism coffers in the UK. According to
VisitScotland, the console holiday (consol-
iday), where people travel to experience in
real life the landscapes they see virtually, is
on the rise. For gamers, catching a glimpse
of the real Forth Bridge after they’ve
hoverpacked over it on Grand Theft Auto
turns virtual reality into an immersive
experience, in the same way walking the
grounds of Dunnottar Castle after being
engaged in Call of Duty combat or drinking
in the sights of Edinburgh after tearing up
the streets in Project Gotham Racing 2 adds
an extra dose of excitement.
Malcolm Roughe ad, chief executive of
VisitScotland, says gamers from home and
abroad are heading to Scotland to discover
the landscapes they’ve seen virtually and
also experience where the inspiration for
many famous games began. Dundee is home
to some of the world’s biggest video game
developers, and Edinburgh is the birthplace
of Rockstar North, which is responsible for
Grand Theft Auto, Red Dead Revolver and
Max Payne franchises and is becoming a
tourist trap in itself on Holyrood Road.
A new round-the-world trip for gamers
has been devised by the videogame retailer
GAME, in partnership with STA Travel,
which kicks off in the Scottish capital.
The trip takes in the Ko Tapu Islands in
Thailand, featured in Tomb Raider:
Underworld, before taking in gaming
experiences in South Korea and Japan,
home to arcade game company Konami.
From there, gamers experience the reputed
birthplace of gaming in Santa Clara,
America, and then trek the gaming pilgrim-
age to the Funspot Family Entertainment
Centre in New Hampshire. After a quick
stop in New York to take in various loca-
tions featured in Call of Duty: Modern
Warfare 3 and Crysis 3, travellers make the
quick skip to Miami – Grand Theft Auto:
Vice City – before calling in at Nassau to
experience Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag,
and Havana for a final dose of Call of Duty.
THE BIG ISSUE / p19 / January 11-17 2016
WorldMags.net
Of course, gamers can easily turn the
console holiday on its head by ‘visiting’
locations via their consoles. After all, why
pay the money to visit Chicago when you
can infiltrate super-secret corporations in
Watch Dogs, and you may as well save
yourself a bob or two and the hassle of
finding tickets at Euro 2016 by playing Fifa’s
version instead. And for some, walking Long
Beach in California may seem like a bit of
a damp squib if you’ve raced the streets in
Forza Motorsport 5, and you’d be silly to sit in
the stands of CenturyLink Field in Seattle if
you’ve scored the winning touchdown there.
Rumours that virtual-reality tourism
could soon be a thing have started to
circulate the web. Speaking to Fortune,
Shawn DuBravac, chief economist for the
Consumer Technology Association, says
virtual reality is set to change the industry
pretty quickly, allowing people to experi-
ence hotel rooms or cruise cabins before
they travel to make a more informed choice.
Oculus Rift, a new headset that creates the
illusion of walking around inside a virtual
world, is already causing a stir in the market
and could soon allow people to explore the
world from their living room.
But for now, enhancing the immersive
experience of gaming through real-life
experiences of videogame scenes seems to
be the niche. The recent release of Fallout 4
has increased interest in Boston as a tourist
location and, as the UK continues to attract
both developers and creatives, the scene
looks set to grow here too.
@jacknpeat