I don’t care much either way about the plot of The Lost Symbol, Dan Brown’s recently announced follow-up to The Da Vinci Code, but I bet the travel industry does.

The Lost Symbol temp coverThere’s no doubt that the success of The Da Vinci Code led to an upsurge in tourism to the cities and locations covered in the book. In Scotland, visits to Rosslyn Chapel—featured in the book—increased fivefold, Eurostar credited some of its success to the release of the film, and even the Louvre was giving Da Vinci Code audio tours. There was a video on the BBC website (sadly I can’t find it now), in which tourists were interviewed in front of various locations featured in Dan Brown’s novels. One enthusiast told the reporters that he had thought The Da Vinci Code a great book, and taken this holiday as a result of reading it, but that now he had seen inside the Louvre, well, the collected contents of the Louvre were almost as good as the book!

Other institutions were less happy about the extra attention from Brown’s fans. Westminster Abbey was a little annoyed, and printed debunking leaflets for the tourists, while Dan Brown fans were urged to stay away from a 2007 Da Vinci exhibition.

From my friends who work in the travel industry in Rome, I know that the last few years have seen a great many requests for Angels & Demons-themed tours of the city. In fact, most tour companies still offer these, and some even specialise in them, and will no doubt receive a boost from the imminent release of the film.

The Lost Symbol’s September publication date means that Dan Brown tourists will still be visiting the old haunts for this season, but when they start booking their holidays for 2010, there’s no doubt that whichever locations Robert Langdon visits in The Lost Symbol are going to receive a much-needed tourism boost.