Harry Potter offers magical boost to UK tourism

EDINBURGH

Sam Thorne guides Harry Potter fans through the gothic streets of Edinburgh, where controversial author JK Rowling dreamt up the boy wizard more than three decades ago.

The Scottish capital attracts lovers of the bespectacled schoolboy from across the world, boosting the U.K. economy and helping generate billions of pounds in global sales of Potter-related offerings.

"Here you will encounter the tomb of Voldemort," Thorne tells his tour group, in reference to the villainous dark lord of magic who murdered Potter's parents when he was a baby.

The tour, numbering some 20 fans, snakes through Greyfriars Kirkyard cemetery where some gravestones bear names similar to several characters, although Rowling, much criticized for her views on transgender rights, has not admitted any link.

Rowling wrote seven Potter books which were published between 1997 and 2007, spawning eight blockbuster movies in a multi-billion-dollar global phenomenon. Fans remain captivated by Edinburgh, whose sights and scenes were the inspiration for fantastical characters and locations.

"It's only gotten busier and busier and crazier and crazier. There's more people coming in, who are all asking for tours as well," Thorne, 33, told AFP.

His "Potter Trail" lasts one-and-a-half hours and takes several dozen tourists across the city's pretty streets. His recommended tour donation is 20 pounds ($26) per person.

Thorne's popular guided walk ends on the colorful Instagram-friendly Victoria Street... in front of two heaving Potter merchandise shops thronged by muggles, or non-wizards.

Devotees also tend to visit "The Making of Harry Potter" film-studio park, which has attracted 19 million visitors since it opened in 2012.

But in recent years, Pottermania has been overshadowed by Rowling's views, including her belief that biological sex is immutable. She denies being transphobic.

In Edinburgh, her views have been difficult for some.

"It's been a tough time to be a Harry Potter fan as a result of her comments, chiefly because one of the reasons why the wizarding world meant so much to so many people is because Harry was seen as being an outsider," Thorne told AFP.

"For people who really felt that, Harry Potter was a form of escapism for them, a place where they could feel accepted, it does feel like a betrayal."