June 21, 2016 TnH Global

Spain to lure Indians through film tourism

Spain is encouraging Indian film-makers to use its fiestas, cities and historic monuments as settings for their movies, in an effort to increase share of India’s outbound tourism market.

The Guardian reports that Madrid will host the annual International Indian Film Academy awards, known as the “Bollywood Oscars”, this year. Among the stars who will attend the awards ceremony will be Hrithik Roshan, star of the 2011 movie Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara, which was produced in collaboration with the Spanish tourism promotion agency, Turespana.

The film was about a road trip across Spain which included scenes at the Tomatina festival in the town of Bunol, the San Fermin bull-running festival in Pamplona, Barcelona, Seville and the beaches of the Costa Brava.

In the year after Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara was released, 60,444 Indians visited Spain – nearly double the 2011 figure. Last year the number rose to 85,000. Several more Indian films have been shot in Spain, including Dil Dhadakne Do, featuring Anil Kapoor, which was filmed on a ship belonging to Pullmantur, Spain’s biggest cruise operator.

Turespana regularly takes part in film location fairs in India and offers a series of incentives to Bollywood movie-makers who decide shoot in Spain.

News Source: traveldailymedia.com