Thirsting for vampire tourism: Developing pop culture destinations

• New tourists challenge local support and identity in Twilight Saga destinations.
• Case studies on pop-culture induced destination development.
• Describes and discusses destination marketing management strategies and activities.
• Shows how place authenticity can be fabricated using a pop-cultural phenomenon.
• Discusses how pop-culture induced tourism is developed differently by destinations.

Destinations associated with pop culture phenomena, such as destinations depicted in books and films, often experience increased numbers of visitors as well as strengthened and changed destination images. The pop culture phenomenon the Twilight Saga (book and film series) is in this paper used as an example to explore how a pop culture phenomenon can affect destinations, and how destinations manage this type of tourism. Case studies in Forks, WA, in the USA, Volterra, Montepulciano in Italy and British Columbia in Canada illustrate different tourism destination strategies. Forks has, for example, developed experiences based on a fictionally constructed reality connected to Twilight, which has reimagined the destination, and, thus, fabricated the authenticity of the place. Volterra and Montepulciano, on the other hand, have experienced a Twilight Saga tourism development characterised by deliberations regarding the immersion of Twilight Saga elements into their cultural heritage which has resulted in a strategy best described as guarding the authenticity of their respective destinations. Finally, British Columbia has had no strategy and exhibits little interest in Twilight tourism. The priority of the destination has been to satisfy the needs of film producers. The study elaborates on different paths of pop culture tourism development, i.e. it is not always advisable to fully exploit the potential that a pop cultural phenomenon can bring to a destination. Which strategy should be used by a particular destination depends on the unique character of the place and its perceived need for tourism development.