Jungle as a Jurassic set: Film-ready: Thailand’s dream scenes lure Hollywood

Thailand has a new attraction: dinosaurs. Well, not in the literal sense. But since film fans around the world have been around that “Jurassic World: The Return” – the youngest blockbuster of Dino saga – was shot in the jungles of the kingdom, the tourism industry rubs its hands. Hollywood producers have long since discovered the wonderful nature of Thailand. Tendency rising.

The agency “Thai Film Office” operated by the government in Bangkok already skillfully stages a dinosaurs on its Facebook page and celebrates the country as an ultimate “film paradise”. And riding high on the dino wave, a huge theme park called “Jurassic World: The Experience” is to be opened in Bangkok at the beginning of August. The authorities want to transform the film -tire sets into bare coin – and hope so that the tourism industry that is still ailing tourism industry after Corona pandemic.

In fact, Thailand has pretty much everything the producer’s heart desires – from lonely dream beaches to impressive temple complexes to wild national parks with waterfalls and limestone rocks. “Jurassic World” main actress Scarlett Johansson raved about the shooting on lonely islands full of natural forces in the southern province of Krabi, where the primeval lines were perfectly staged.

Funding program as an incentive

But there are also financial incentives that contribute to success: since January, the country has been offering cashback for foreign film productions of up to 30 percent of its expenses. Many Asian productions also appreciate this, such as from India, South Korea or China.

“Thailand offers a diverse selection of backdrops, from pulsating cities to fantastic holiday destinations-and at an excellent price-performance ratio,” said Jurairate Mongkolwongsiri, deputy sales director of Thailand’s leading hotel group Centara Hotels & Resorts, the German press agency. In addition, there would be the rich culture and many experienced local production partners – an extremely attractive mix for filmmakers from all over the world.

A Centara Hotel was already the filming location of an Oscar-winning film: 40 years ago, today’s Centara Grand Beach Resort & Villas Hua Hin, three hours of car from Bangkok, parts of the anti-war drama “The Killing Fields-Screaming Land” (1984). A decade later, the iconic building from 1922 served as a location in the action strip “The Quest-The challenge” with Jean-Claude van Damme and Roger Moore.

Speaking of Roger Moore: As early as the 1970s, the British actor fought a shooting duel on the wonderful island of Khao Phing Kan near Phuket in “The Man with the Golden Colt”. To date, the country is marketing the island and the imposing rock pin Khao Tapu as “James Bond Island”.

But it was only Danny Boyle’s hippie drama “The Beach” with Leonardo DiCaprio to trigger a real tourist hype for the first time. After the strip came to cinemas in 2000, tourists piled up on the otherwise uninhabited island of Phi Phi Leh to admire the dreamlike Maya Bay for years. In the end it was almost 6000 a day. The paradise mutated into a crowded nightmare. In the end, the selfies were no longer a pleasure. The rush has only been better regulated since a closure from 2018.

When it became known that Thailand was chosen as the setting of the recent season of the award-winning HBO series “The White Lotus”, the search queries shot up to the island of Koh Samui, where large parts of the biting satire were shot.

Travel to locomotive as a trend

The trend of visiting locations of your own favorite series or a blockbuster is more popular than ever. Jurassic fans will soon draw some of the most beautiful locations in the province of Krabi directly on the Andamanensee. This is also confirmed by hotel experts.

“Productions like” The White Lotus “will certainly help to arouse interest and increase the questions of travel,” said Centara spokeswoman Mongkolwongsiri. “At Centara, we have noticeable growth for travel destinations such as Krabi and Koh Samui – with an average increase in the occupancy of our hotels in these areas by 10 to 30 percent.”

The list of films made in Thailand is getting longer and longer. Other US productions from the past few years, which it moved to the kingdom, were, for example, the science fiction action thriller “The Creator” by Gareth Edwards (2024) and a year earlier the war dramedy “The Greatest Beer Run Ever” with Zac Evon, Russell Crowe and Bill Murray. Many Vietnam scenes were created here in Bangkok and Hua Hin.

Many millions for Thailand’s economy

In the first six months of this year alone, according to “Thai Film Office”, around 2.8 billion Thai Baht (around 75 million euros) flowed through international film shoots. From January 1 to June 30th, proud 279 foreign films were made in whole or in part in Thailand.

“Thailand consolidates his reputation as a leading international film location,” cheered the agency. And the deputy government spokeswoman Sasikarn Wattanachan recently became confident and said that after “Jurassic World” and “White Lotus”, further blockbuster productions would soon follow.