Tourism and Cinema

Tourism and Cinema

Rome [ENA] A Conference on Tourism and the Audiovisual Industry will be held (1-2 May 2020, Riviera Maya, Mexico) will provide answers to promotion of sustainable development through tourism. Indeed, a visit to locations where famous series or movies were filmed is a motivation for more and more travellers. Culture is an essential vector for tourism and cinema can serve as a mirror of the culture of a given community.

What can tourism learn from the knowledge, proposals and contributions of the most important representatives of the audiovisual sector of Ibero-America? Conclusions and recommendations formulated in this field can certainly promote sustainable development through tourism. The event will be carried out by the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) in collaboration with UNWTO Affiliate Members EGEDA (Entidad de Gestión de Derechos de los Productores Audiovisuales), the Tourism Promotion Council of Quintana Roo and the XCaret Group, and with the support of the Barceló Hotel & Resorts Group.

The Conference will be integrated into the extensive programme of events in the context of the 2020 Platino Awards Gala, which will be held under the theme “17 Awards - 17 Sustainable Development Goals” and will bring together prominent representatives from the entire Ibero-American audiovisual industry: producers, directors, actors, and professionals, among others. The conference will focus on the different aspects of the relationship between tourism, the film/audiovisual industry and the promotion of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It will include presentations and debates on cultural tourism, the beneficial impact of cinema on tourism promotion, strengthening the competitiveness of a destination and how to promote and

incorporate the SDGs in movies. Given the nature of this approach, which literally gives visibility to the Sustainable Development Goals through creative narratives, the Conference is very much in line with the recently initiated Decade of Action for the SDGs, which marks the countdown towards the achievement of the 2030 Agenda and the 17 Global Goals that derive from it. The conference will be aimed at public and private entities linked to the tourism and audiovisual sectors, respectively (producers, directors, actors and other film professionals, Destination Management Organizations (DMOs), National Tourism Administrations (NTAs), Ministries of Tourism, and UNWTO Affiliate Members, among others).

The event will be a bridge for dialogue between tourism destinations and the most important companies producing films and series, public and private television networks, sales agents, distributors and exhibitors from more than 30 countries, with the common objective of promoting film tourism through the opening of a special market area to incite the promotion and marketing of products and services related to the audiovisual, tourism and education sectors.