Cinemagoers around the world are lining up to see the new, highly acclaimed version of Roald Dahl’s children’s classic The BFG from this Friday.

Now Britain’s tourism chiefs hope it will bring a surge in foreign visitors keen to travel to the film’s locations across the country. VisitBritain, which promotes the country to overseas visitors, believes that The BFG is one of a batch of new films, plays and experiences based on classic titles that will help sell the UK abroad. The new film version, which will be shown in cinemas from this week, is already the subject of a major promotional push to attract visitors from countries as diverse as Australia and Russia.

Directed by Steven Spielberg, and starring Mark Rylance as the Big Friendly Giant and Penelope Wilton as the Queen, the film, released on the 100th anniversary of Dahl’s birth, is expected to attract more visitors to locations where it was filmed, including the Angel of the North, Big Ben and the Isle of Skye. The film is also expected to see an increase in visitors to the Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre in Buckinghamshire and to Cardiff, Dahl’s birthplace. The Welsh capital city will host a special theatrical event in September – “The City of the Unexpected” – when its streets are given over to Dahl’s favourite characters. The weekend is part of 100 Dahl-themed events taking place across the UK this year.

David Rudd, professor of children’s literature at the University of Roehampton, said Dahl’s popularity had not waned since his books first came out. “We’re a couple of generations on now and people want to take his stories onward to share with their own kids and grandkids,” he said.

“Those who weren’t keen on reading stories to their children don’t mind reading Dahl because his stories are so rewarding in terms of the response they get from their child audience. The vulgar words and the rollicking, fast-paced stories are a dear to read.”

VisitBritain is spending £350,000 on a social media campaign to promote BFG locations to audiences in France, Canada, Australia and Russia and to sell the UK’s “giant” credentials to be a family-friendly destination.

Among new giant-themed visitor attractions being showcased this summer are the world’s highest trampoline – Treetop Nets in North Yorkshire; the world’s longest and tallest tunnel slide at the ArcelorMittal Orbit slide in the Olympic Park; the world’s tallest moving observation tower – the British Airways i360 in Brighton; and the world’s biggest bouncy castle at Camp Bestival, Dorset.

A more sedate celebration of England’s landscape is planned to coincide with a new film version of Arthur Ransome’s classic novel Swallows and Amazons, set to be released next month and starring Andrew Scott and Rafe Spall. VisitEngland is partnering with the film’s producers, Studio Canal, to promote the film, set in the Lake District, in a campaign that aims to celebrate the great British outdoors and encourage families to reconnect with the countryside. “We used to be embarrassed to look back at Englishness, but now we seem to think it’s OK,” Rudd said. “Ransome is opposite to Dahl – his books are quite a long read, nothing much happens in them – but it’s all based on character interaction and companionship. He looks at everyday life and brings specialness to it – cooking, sailing across a lake. It draws on similar themes to Robinson Crusoe.”

The Lake District is also the setting for the 150th anniversary of the birth of Beatrix Potter, best known as the author of The Tale of Peter Rabbit. The anniversary is expected to draw thousands to the World of Beatrix Potter Attraction now staging a new musical, Where is Peter Rabbit?

On top of that, a spinoff from the Harry Potter franchise – JK Rowling’s Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them – will come out in November and is expected to trigger another wave of Pottermania.

“We know that just under half of our potential visitors to Britain say they are enthused by seeing Britain on film – it’s a really powerful driver,” said Patricia Yates of VisitBritain. “Those images you see of locations really make you want to go. With the films that we’ve worked on we’ve seen a real, tangible benefit.

James Bond’s Skyfall saw an upturn in visitors to Scotland while the Harry Potter franchise has had drawn crowds to Alnwick Castle in Northumberland. The Paddington film has also done much to promote London abroad.

Tourists are coming from a number of unusual markets. The number of Chinese visitors to the UK has risen 46% year-on-year while the number of tourists from Saudi Arabia has increase by 24%. However, US tourists remain the key market. They are now worth £3bn to the British economy and are back at numbers not seen since 2001. Yates suggested that the falling value of the pound against the dollar is likely to increase their numbers this summer.