Americans are taking their passion for entertainment on vacation. Shelby Paul, 13, went to Bahamas for a 「Pirates of the Caribbean」 tour based on the film.

If there's a film you just love, the chances are that there is a vacation you'll just love, too.

Themed tours, often based on books, movies and historical events, are in the rise as tour operators hope to meet demand form American travelers looking to go behind the scenes --- and to learn, said Hank Phillips, president of the National Tour Association, which represents 620 tour companies.

「People want to be much more engaged with the places they visit,」 Mr. Phillips said.

The trips, some of which come complete with consumed characters, can cost $38 for a couple of weeks in a ship to Antartica, retracing explorers' paths and staying in the master suite with sweeping view.

Rick Paul, an insurance agent from Albuquerque, has made themed travel a habit. In the summer of 2005, he and his 13-year-old daughter, Shelby, flew to Miami and then sailed in the Caribbean for a tour based on the movie」 Pirate of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl.」

Shelby, who loves the movie so much that she watches it four times a month, found the trip online. For $1,500 each, nit including air fair, they spent five days touring old pirate hideaways in Jamaica, reading 17th-century transcript of trails of pirates and listening to lectures from costumed experts on what it was like to be a pirate.
Mr. Paul and his daughter do not limit themselves to pirates. They have also taken two Harry Potter tour s in England, where they visited castles and rode the train that was used in the movie as the Hogwarts Express. Their cost was $1,800 a person per trip. Next up is a 「Lord of the Rings」 tour in New Zealand.

Such trips have paid off for some tour operators, including Jeannie Barresi, co-owner of Beyond Boundaries Travel, which put together Mr. Paul's vacation.

Ms. Barresi started organizing movie vacation package tour in 2003. She is planning a trip to France based on 「The Da Vinci Code」 (like many 「Da Vinci Code」 tours already available) and a tour of England based on」 Pride and Prejudice.」

In the Santa Barbara, California area, vacationers have been taking 「Sideways」 tours of the wineries seen in the hit independent movie. In New York, 1,000 people a week pay $38 for a 「Sex and the City」 tour by On Location Tours, highlighting restaurants, bars and shops seen on the former series on HBO.

Themed travel is not just about television and movies, A Los Angles company, EagleRider, offers a Gold Rush motorcycle tour of California's old gold mines and ghost towns. In Iowa, travelers pay $300 to $800 each for farm tours ranging form three to eight days. They visited ranched and dairies to bottle-feed calves, pick apples or watch border collies herd sheep, said H. Peter Jorgensen, group travel manager of Silos and Smokestack National Heritage Area In Decorah, Iowa, that organizes the trips.

「People are loving this stuff,」 Mr. Jorgensen said.