FITUR SCREEN presents 'Spain Screen Grand Tour', a wager to promote screen tourism

On the second day of the FITUR Screen section, organised by IFEMA MADRID in collaboration with the Spain Film Commission, the Spain Screen Grand Tour project was presented at the International Tourism Trade Fair. After a year of development, the General Secretary of the Spain Film Commission, Juan Manuel Guimerans, accompanied by Iñaki Gaztelumendi, tourism expert, and Ana Alonso, project manager, explained the initiative, which has three main objectives: to promote the tourism segment, to showcase Spain's locations and to attract film production companies, thus boosting the multiplier effect that the tourism industry generates in the service industry.

Spain Screen Grand Tour represents screen tourism, a new and growing form of tourism that makes use of the emotional bond that visual fictions create with the people who watch them, awakening a special interest in the places where they have been filmed. This way, viewers explore the places and locations of their favourite productions, while soaking up the culture and richness of the destination, even before their visit. A possibility of great value for the tourism industry, since today's spectator can become tomorrow's tourist.

The project offers audiovisual travellers specific routes to discover filming locations in Spain through the first geolocation map of screen destinations in the country. Thanks to this map, tourists will be able to travel around Spain through the filming and productions that the country has hosted to discover every corner with a special, unique and different perspective.

"This is a project aimed at four main groups: the traveller, who is looking for a new way of doing tourism; the destination, which is part of a leading country in tourism such as Spain; the tourism professional, who is looking to deseasonalise; and the audiovisual industry professional, who is looking to develop their audiovisual products", explained Guimeráns, with the aim of offering all these groups another way to further promote their work.

For her part, Ana Alonso shared the strategy of the initiative, which is present in five social media platforms, has more than 1000 contents among all platforms and has just launched the podcast 'Hacia rutas de pantalla (Towards screen routes)', which will be broadcast monthly. "There is also a joint work with all the territories that are part of the Spain Film Commission network and an important institutional work that has led us to present Spain Screen Grand Tour at the 25th meeting of the UNWTO General Assembly in Samarkand," explained Alonso.

Rishabh Chopra, renowned Bollywood producer, Ambassador of Spain Film Commission

Throughout the day, participants attended a wide range of round tables where leading figures from the audiovisual industry, tourism experts and institutional representatives exchanged impressions and knowledge.

The Zaragoza Film Commission opened the day with the participation of Sara Fernández, Zaragoza City Councillor for Culture, who was accompanied by the film directors, Javier Macipe and Miguel Ángel Lamata. During this session, the speakers highlighted and emphasised the region's firm commitment to the development of the audiovisual industry.

The round table "Screen tourism, an international consumer trend" was attended by Juan Pablo Arroyo Abraham, filmmaker from Morelia and honorary commissioner of the Morelia Film Commission; Jaqueline Gil, director of Marketing and Sustainability at Embratur, and Cristina Bernabé, director of Visit Britain for Southern Europe. The meeting highlighted the economic impact of screen tourism and its ability to attract tourists to more local and unfamiliar locations, thus boosting regional communities.

The presentation of Madrid Film Office & Film Madrid, "Screen Tourism and Tourist Routes Presentation" has shown the tourist routes "Samuel Bronston Route: Madrid's Hollywood" and "Concha Velasco Route: Madrid from Conchita to Concha Velasco". Mariano de Paco Serrano, Councillor for Culture, Tourism and Sport of the Community of Madrid; Almudena Maíllo, Councillor for Tourism and San Blas Canillejas of Madrid City Council; Víctor Matellano, in charge of the creation of these routes; Andrea Bronston, actress and producer, and Manuel Martínez Velasco, advisor in the creation of the Concha Velasco route, have shown the great value of the synergy between the tourism and audiovisual industries in the territory.

Under the title "25 years travelling around Andalusia, a film destination", the Andalusia Film Commission has shown the industry's journey in the region. Piluca Querol, director of the Andalusia Film Commission, accompanied by representatives of the Andalusian Film Cities network, highlighted the key value of this network in the promotion and dissemination of the regional audiovisual industry as a strategic enclave in the attraction of productions thanks to the close collaboration between members.

At the first round table of the afternoon, the Ciudad de la Luz studios were presented by Fermín Crespo, general director of the company Proyectos para la Transformación Digital (SPTD), and the new Film Commission Comunitat Valenciana brand was unveiled, together with Nuria Montes, Regional Minister for Innovation, Industry, Trade and Tourism, who shared her vision of the Valencian Community as an audiovisual potential and the public administration's efforts to strengthen this industry.

The day ended with "Innovative visions in screen tourism", with the participation of Manuel Mejide, director of ILUX Visual Technologies, and Santi Valldepérez, director and co-organiser of Terres Check-In. The speakers explained the potential of technology in the development of screen tourism, as a competitive synergy thanks to advances in artificial intelligence, which will make it possible to streamline the work of large film production companies more. The convergence of technology and tourism promises unprecedented agility in the creation of visual experiences, opening up a world of possibilities for both filmmakers and screen tourists, who can more easily access the locations they wish to visit.