'La La Land' Increased California's Tourism

"La La Land", the musical film starred by Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling, made history with its several awards both in Golden Globes and the Academy Awards. The movie is a huge box office success and has gathered about $300 million in ticket sales around the world.

But it seems the hype is doing California some good as well. The movie is filmed in key locations in Southern California, and since then, fans have been clamoring on visiting the sites featured in the film, boosting the state's tourism sector.

According to LA Times, several surveys show that more than half of their respondents who have watched "La La Land" are more likely to visit Los Angeles. The region's $20.6 billion tourism industry looks like it's going to spike more this year because of the film's immense popularity.

Locations featured in the movie include Angels Flight, the Griffith Observatory, the Watts Towers, and Chinatown. Don Skeoch, chief marketing officer for Discover Los Angeles, the city's tourism agency, said in an interview: "The city may be the film's biggest star. We believe fans will become inspired by what they see and want to visit and learn about the iconic locations."

Photo Tourism is a major driving point in California right now, as evidently shown in the spike of bar sales in the Lighthouse Café, a Hermosa Beach jazz bar frequently shown in the film. According to Skift, Lighthouse General Manager Steven Grehl noticed a 13% increase in bar sales in the past three months, due to a number of people wanting to take pictures in front of the sign featured in the film. Because of the hype, Grehl plans to add more "La La Land" iconic artworks in the bar.

Movies have always been a major factor in boosting tourism in a certain place or country. Since the release of "The Lord of The Rings" back in 2001, New Zealand's tourism revenue has tripled, and Iceland is welcoming more and more tourists each passing day because of it being a key location in the popular series, "Game Of Thrones".