Film-induced tourism is one of the fastest-growing sectors in tourism currently.It emerged as a prominent form of tourism in the 1990s. Before its emergence as a unique driver of the tourism industry, there were brief mentions of the phenomenon of film tourism by academics and anecdotal mentions.

In 1996, the British Tourism Association became the first tourism agency to capitalize on film tourism by publishing a map of Great Britain with movie locations marked on it.

This increasing popularity of film tourism is due to the rise of international travel, the rapid growth of the entertainment industry, and cult-like celebrity status.

For destinations, films provide long term tourism revenue. The appearance of a particular area in a film or television can have a huge effect on the number of visitors of an already existing place and create a new kind of tourism to the area and generate a boost for the local economy. On average, a film can increase tourism and revenue by almost 31%.

In New Zealand, fans of The Lord of The Rings movie series visit New Zealand, where most of the movie scenes were shot. The movies increased the annual tourist influx to New Zealand from US$1.7 million in 2000 to US$2.4 million in 2004, a 40 percent surge.

In Britain, the Alnwick Castle, where the scenes for the movie Harry Potter were shot had experienced a 120% increase in visitor numbers which brought an estimated £9 million worth tourist revenue to the area.