Benefits from shootings of foreign films in Croatia are not just promotional.
Pierce Brosnan and Meryl Streep on the island Vis, Jamie Foxx in Dubrovnik, Ridley Scott on the island of Pag – this is a kind of promotion which every country would like to see, but it is a reality for Croatia, mostly thanks to the interest of foreign filmmakers who have been increasingly using locations in Croatia in recent years. At the moment, the shooting of the sequel to Mamma Mia on Vis is expected to start shortly, and there are rumours that the new James Bond movie should be filmed in Dubrovnik next year. Knightfall, Robin Hood, Games of Thrones and Star Wars are just some of films and TV shows which have been shot in Croatia in recent years, reports Poslovni.hr on September 4, 2017.
The Croatian Audiovisual Centre (HAVC) established in 2012 a system of incentives for the so-called export of audiovisual services in order to attract international film and television productions to Croatia. These incentives have been used in the past five years by many foreign filmmakers, and 34 film projects have brought 390 million kunas to the Croatian economy.
Although the HAVC has not yet announced initial data for 2017, it is known that in the first half of this year six new projects submitted applications for incentives. It is certain that 2017 will be an even better year than 2015 was when 155.7 million kunas in local spending was realized.
“With its incentive system, the HAVC has launched the so-called film tourism in Croatia. Ten years ago, we watched as tourists would visit destinations in other countries which also served as locations for the shooting of numerous films. Now, we have finally become such a country ourselves,” said HAVC director Daniel Rafaelić.
The data show that local self-government units, in the 2012-2015 period, received from TV and film productions a total of 2.62 million kunas, in addition to direct revenues of the state budget in the amount of 61.5 million kunas. Also, the number of hired film crew members has risen from 395 in 2012 to 1,084 in 2015, while the number of extras increased from 1,793 in 2012 to 3,987 in 2015.
From 2012 to 2015, a total of 14,500 Croatian members of film crews worked on the productions, while the number of shooting days increased from 82 to 262. In the period from 2012-2015, high-budget film productions generated 130,317 overnight stays and brought 56 million kunas in hotel spending, which is the best evidence of direct benefits which the incentive programme creates for related industries, explains the HAVC.
Translated from Poslovni.hr.
