Roman Holidays for Rome and the whole of Italy, L'Amica Geniale for Naples, The White Lotus for Sicily and recently The Little Mermaid for Sardinia.
Cinema, as we know, fascinates, enchants and enchants cinephiles who then become the first tourists of those dream places they see on the screen.
And so it is that thanks to Rob Marshall's Little Mermaid, filmed largely on the island, between the Gulf of Asinara and Golfo Aranci, Sardinia recorded a +216% of foreign tourists in the summer of 2023, as highlighted in the commission Culture by Gianluca Aste , president of the Sardinia Film Commission Foundation .
Tourism Minister Daniela Santanchè also supports this: «A film is always the beginning of a journey. Images and stories have a great attractive and empathetic power, and are the right key to promoting tourism. In fact, the tendency to choose a location known through the small or big screen as a holiday destination is becoming increasingly popular. And it is also thanks to cinema that Italy, through films such as La Dolce Vita, is appreciated throughout the world. A trend that is proving to be very effective even today. For example, The Little Mermaid by Rob Marshall, which was a great success all over the world, generated positive effects on tourist flows in Italy : Sardinia, where several scenes of the film were filmed, recorded a surge in requests for bookings from abroad by 216%".
For this reason, the Ministry of Tourism and Enit are taking part in the Rome Film Festival from 18 to 29 October at the Auditorium Parco della Musica Ennio Morricone , involving numerous cultural realities of the Capital and of Italy and establishing a quality mark for films that promote tourism and Italy in the world. The National Tourism Agency will attribute a special "quality seal" to a selection of thematic films, one of which will be awarded on Tuesday 24 October at 7pm on the red carpet of the Festival, one of the most prestigious and well-known places of the event.
Enit will award a sticker called "Journey to Italy" to a selection of films that best enhance the territory , and the sticker will be visible in the tab dedicated to each film selected and included in the catalog of the official program of the Festival.
«The scenarios of the films prepare one for the journey and anticipate the emotions – comments Ivana Jelinic, president and CEO of Enit -. Linking cinema and places in Italy represents a valid tool for promoting the Italian image abroad by leveraging a simple, immediate, global, pervasive language. Enit continues to maintain its role as guardian of the memory and pieces of tourist Italy, and has already in the past attracted visitors to the Peninsula with the instrument of cinema, as demonstrated by the film productions commissioned by the Agency in past eras".
(Unioneonline/D)
