Being James Bond takes more than visiting the locations he disrupts and destroys, but film fans love to do it anyway.
Following the release of Spectre, there has been a surge in the number of Britons looking to book holidays in Rome, Morocco and Mexico.
One of the best scenes in Spectre is the car chase through Rome’s city streets with Bond behind the wheel of the super sexy Aston Martin DB10 and the villainous Mr Hinx (Dave Bautista) on his tail in a Jaguar C-X75.
As they tear through famous piazzas and round the Spanish Steps, it made me nostalgic for the city breaks I’ve spent there, even if I wasn’t accompanied by a Tom Ford suited James Bond.
So perhaps I can believe in terms of searches for holidays to Rome specifically, sunshine.co.uk witnessed a 89% increase following the film’s release, overall bookings to Rome were up 52%.
One of the other prominent destinations in the film is Morocco, it’s where James and Madeleine Swann (Lea Seydoux) get acquainted. Again, the number of people looking to book holidays to the country; with searches almost doubling (up 91%) compared to the week before the film came out in cinemas.
And finally, Mexico. The opening scene is a jaw-dropping single shot making it the greatest in the history of the spy franchise. Â Not only is it impressive, it was expensive too, a reported $20million.
The 007 spy blows up the enemy and fights to survive in an out-of-control helicopter as the Day of the Dead festival continues underneath. In the same period (Monday, October 26 to Sunday, November 1) searches for holidays to Mexico increased by 69%.
It’s dusty and ghoulish but who wouldn’t want to go there? It’s Mexico.