Skip to content

Culture & Religion — June 21, 2014

“Frozen” Sparks Norwegian Tourism Boom

As Disney's Frozen continues to climb the ranks of highest grossing films, its popularity is beginning to pay dividends for the Norwegian tourism industry. The nation's beautiful locales served as inspiration for Frozen's fantasy Kingdom of Arendelle.

Robert Montenegro

What’s the Latest?

While Disney’s Frozen premiered a whole seven months, American audiences don’t seem ready to let it go. The film is more than just a huge success for Disney; its popularity is also paying dividends for Norway, the nation that inspired the movie’s fictional locale of Arendelle. According to CNBC, travel from the United States to Norway jumped an amazing 37% earlier this year. Flight Tracker and Norwegian Air Shuttle also reported spikes in Americans searching for and boarding flights.

What’s the Big Idea?

Norway’s good fortune is not an unfamiliar story as Hollywood has long been thought of as the “world’s best travel agent.” The Lord of the Rings trilogy caused tourism to New Zealand to explode like one of Gandalf’s fireworks. India’s Ministry of Tourism built an entire package marketed around Life of Pi. The Belgian city of Bruges embraced its role in the eponymous In Bruges after tourism shot up following the film’s release.

One big difference between The Lord of the Rings and Frozen is that New Zealand contributed financial support in order to secure the film’s production. Frozen, being an animated film, probably didn’t require an expensive film tax credit.

Read more at CNBC

Photo credit: Galyna Andrushko / Shutterstock

Related

A pixelated image of a person in a white hoodie walking in the woods, with the person's face obscured by pixelation. The background features reddish handwritten text overlay.

25 years since Columbine: We’re closer to decoding mass-shooter psychology

Public mass shooters almost always have worldviews shaped by the "3 Rs": rage, resentment, and revenge.

An edited image of elmo peeking out from a trash can, positioned among scattered multiple cartoon-like chat bubbles expressing humorous thoughts.

Everyday Philosophy: “Is there anything wrong with trauma dumping?”

When does "oversharing" become an issue?

Bald man in casual attire sitting on a stool with a strategic diagram background in yellow.

Adam Grant on how to identify and develop high-potential leaders

The ability to toggle between abstract and concrete thinking is a key differentiator of high-potential leaders.

A split image with a close-up of a blue eye on the left, and a classical painting of a woman resting her head on her arm on a sofa on the right.

Want true success? Be more philosophical about “good” and “bad” failure.

Bob Dylan gave us the paradoxical gem "there's no success like failure, and failure's no success at all." He had a point.

atom quantum

Starts With A Bang

The idea that matter is mostly empty space is mostly wrong

Practically all of the matter we see and interact with is made of atoms, which are mostly empty space. Then why is reality so... solid?

Up Next

Technology & Innovation

Hollywood’s Corporate Welfare Hypocrisy

The American film and television industries take advantage of billions of dollars in tax incentives doled out by local governments. Where producers and politicians see investment, Allysia Finley of The Wall Street Journal sees shameless corporate welfare.