Game of Thrones, La Casa de Papel, Elite, Black Mirror and Almodovar Films, a list of large international productions, completely or partially, in Spain has not stopped growing in recent years.
This situation also led to the development of cinema and television tourism in the country, when people travel to see the places where their favorite films and series were shot.
“Previously, the people who were superfinal of the film traveled mainly to southern Spain, to the desert, where Westerns or Seville were shot to see the filming of the star war, but now it is becoming more and more popular,” explains Diego Santos, a tourism professor in the EAE business school in Madrid.
“In recent years, there has been a higher tendency to cinema tourism. This niche grows very quickly. ”
The first study of the genre in Spain, Spain of the film: Trends in cinematic tourismconfirms this trend. Four out of ten respondents admitted that culture is one of the largest motives for travel. Each of ten showed that he planned an escape to the place that was used to make a film or a television show.
“The potential of this type of tourism is huge with the growth of large streaming platforms, such as Netflix, and its ability to wake up in millions of spectators, interest in landscapes and cultures from around the world,” says Ana Alonso, director and founder of Traveling Set, the first Spanish consulting company specializing in the tourism movie.
The study showed that Madrid was a city in which films, a series or documentary was most often mentioned during a visit (28.1%), followed by Almeria (22.6%) and Seville (15.3%).
“The task is currently in the development of a professional proposal, promoting it and stimulating demand. Compared to the UKWhich is a leader in this sector, in Spain there are still few proposals of this type. This is a bit like the beginning of wine tourism, ”adds Alonso.
Cinematographic tourism is a niche in rapid development
Growing demand led to the creation of an industry specially related to cinema tourism. Companies begin to work with tour operators to attract travelers interested in tourism based on cinema and television series.
“This is not only about visiting sites or visiting the main places where films were recorded, but also to connect a movie with the history of the city,” explains Obri Minotti, founder of Lorens, a consulting company that works through tourist operators and travel agencies. “This is more tourist experience in which the film illustrates, extends and completes tourist speech and finishes the recalculation of the circuits of the tourist product through the cinema.”
The proposed experiments are diverse and can include night forecasts, thematic dinners in restaurants, sewing workshops, watching cinema costumes or the cinematic experience of the team.
“Thanks to the tourism screen, we can talk about culture, gastronomy, natural heritage, cinema or fiction, which leads us to the reason due to the stories that we saw at home,” says Alonso, who has already developed the leaderships on the places selected by large productions. “The possibilities are huge.”
Spain is already a popular place for filming
Spain has always been Popular place for filmingThanks to its climate – short and soft winter, low precipitation and more than 3,000 hours of sun per year in some regions – and the variety of its landscapes, from the arid desert to a luxurious forest or the Mediterranean Sea.
In the 1960s, Almeria gained fame after the Italian director Sergio Leona chose a desert about how a script for his famous Western spaghetti, such as good, is bad and ugly.
“For decades, Spain used a movie as a way of promoting tourism,” says Santos. “Nevertheless, at present, knowing that our tourist model is not the most stable social point of view, all the niches that help us move from highly concentrated spaces with tourism and massification to other places are really important.”
Since 2020, the Spanish government also offers tax benefits of 30 percent of the first millions of euros expenses and 25 percent of the rest for attracting international film productionField Public permits for shooting are facilitated, and the process of providing visas for international production commands was simplified. These production currently generate Economic influence of 1.32 billion eurosAccording to Spain of the Cinema Commission.
And as a sign that Spain becomes the main destination for this growing trend, the first European Congress in Cinema will be took place next month in country.
Is this a solution for mass tourism?
At the same time, since last year they have been conducted in Spain protests against mass tourism. Local residents complain about a negative impact on their lives, starting with a serious housing crisis emphasized by short -term rental.
Last summer, tourists were really attacked water pistols in BarcelonaCan this new type of tourism be a solution?
“For us, screen tourism is a new way of doing business, more related to stability,” says Alonso. “This is a type of tourism that is not connected with a certain time of the year, such as swimming on the beach, and it also allows us to redirect the movement to places that we have never thought of visiting.”
This is a representation of Lorens, which offers excursions to various places in Spain.
“These clients, of course, want to see the main monuments, but as soon as we transfer them to the second place, which emphasized the movie, we have surprises that appear all the time,” Minotti said.