The cobbled strengths and streets of the old town of the Croatian city of Dubrovnik are usually crowded with tourists eager to visit the locations of the television series “Game of Thrones” or the movie “Star Wars: The last Jedi”.
However, the comments of the president of the United States, Donald Trump, of this month in which he said that he would impose a 100% tariff to all the films produced outside the United States have alarmed the entertainment industry and some inhabitants of Dubrovnik, who fear that the directors stop filming there.
“There have been huge disorders due to the tariffs Trump plans to introduce,” said Croatian film producer Igor Aleksandar Nola, added that the budgets had already been affected by world economic agitation.
“Part of the financing from banks and investment funds for audiovisual arts has been waiting due to uncertainty,” Nola told Reuters.
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Hollywood has been resorting to the Central European countries and the Balkans for their spectacular landscapes, their mixture of architectural styles and their cheapest filming costs. If a movie or series is a success, those places can become very popular places among visitors.
“The movie and ‘Game of Thrones’ have changed Dubrovnik,” says the tourist guide Ivan Vukovic. About a thousand tourists sign up every day to an “Game of Thrones” excursion, he explains.
New memories stores have been opened and jobs for tourist and locals that help in cinematographic productions out of season have been created.
“All this has created a great economic” boom, “said Vukovic.
Trump did not give details about the tariff calendar and left executives wondering how they could apply to the film industry.
The participants in the Cannes Film Festival, which opened on Tuesday, maintained a cautious attitude after the initial shock due to the announcement of the tariffs.
Mate Frankovic, mayor of Dubrovnik, who receives about 1.4 million tourists a year, said he did not expect the crisis to last a lot or seriously affect film productions and tourism in Dubrovnik.
“Honestly, I can’t imagine a single serious film and of great American production that does not include a big European city,” he said.
With Reuters information
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