On the Trail of Errol Flynn: Explorations in Autoethnography

To attract tourists, destinations are increasingly developing products based on film and other popular culture connections. These include tours, museums, visitor centers, statues, and walking trails. This article examines the recently developed Errol Flynn Trail in Hobart, Australia. Utilizing an autoethnographic approach, we analyzed how the Trail worked, the stories it told, and the tourist experience it provided. Our findings suggest that the Trail provides a rich and satisfying experience for visitors interested in the Golden Age of Hollywood movies in the 1930s and 1940s. There is a strong connection between Errol Flynn and the destination, and as the Trail is linked to sites of Flynn's early years, it provides access to a detailed and nuanced back story of the actor's life and notoriety. The tragic elements of this story add to the authenticity and level of parasocial interaction of visitors, and there are elements of cocreation of the experience, as visitors are likely to be passionate about this period rather than just casual participants. These types of self-guided walks offer the flexibility to go off trail or allow visitors to spend as long as they like at one site. Further research should explore the demand for and nature of these self-guided experiences, particularly in a media-induced context.