Spain turns to Hollywood to boost tourism

The Hollywood stars filmed the bull run scene last month in the historic center of Cadiz in southwestern Spain for the new James Mangold-directed action-comedy “Knight and Day” which is set to hit U.S. theaters in July 2010.

Producers hope the film will be a blockbuster while local officials hope the scenes shot in Cadiz and in the nearby city of Seville will highlight the charms of the region of whitewashed villages and attract more tourists.

The Cadiz municipal government made it easier for producers to get permits to shoot in the narrow alleys of the old town, provided offices for castings as well as police to keep onlookers at bay during filming.

“This is part of efforts by the municipality to promote the city, attract film producers and project Cadiz's tourism image internationally,” Cadiz councilman Bruno Garcia who is in charge of tourism told local media. With Spain facing a slump in the number of tourists, several local governments in Spain are encouraging movies with an international scope to be made in their backyards in a bid to reverse the trend.

Often the goal is to draw attention to towns or landscapes that have been largely overlooked by a tourism model that previously relied heavily on sun and sea holiday packages at ageing coastal resorts that are falling out of favor.

Last year Spain lost its ranking as the world's second most visited country to the United States as the number of tourists it welcomed dropped 2.3 percent to 57.3 million, its first reversal in visitor numbers in over a decade.

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