This is the Andalusian tourism video, featuring Antonio Banderas, that won second prize at a film festival in Japan

The film, featuring the Malaga-born actor and director, was one of 1,733 entries from over 100 countries and aims to attract tourists to the region

Friday, 18 March 2022, 11:15 | Updated 19:28h.

A promotional campaign aiming to attract tourists to Andalucía after the nightmare of the pandemic, and starring Malaga-born actor Antonio Banderas, has won second prize at the Japanese Tourism Film Festival. The vice-president of the Junta de Andalucía, Juan Marín, broke the news via his Twitter account, in a post in which he congratulated all the team at Turismo Andaluz and said “we are so proud!”

This award is important for the region, which came second out of 1,733 entries from over 100 countries. The campaign, titled 'Date una alegría, ven a Andalucía' (give yourself a treat, come to Andalucía), aimed to reactivate tourism after the major impact the sector suffered because of the pandemic. In the video Banderas, who is an Ambassador of Andalucía, said that “Andalucía is joy, the happiness in enjoying small things, at every moment, in every place”. It showed some of the main tourist attractions of Andalusian destinations, with the emphasis on seeing and enjoying life, elements that are highly valued at a time of such uncertainty and concern about the expansion of the virus.

Region's economy relies on tourism

During the official presentation of this video, it was made clear that the hope is to bring more tourists to Andalucía from elsewhere in Spain and abroad this summer. “The sector is having to start from scratch, and businesses were forced to close for more than two months. This has a major effect on the economy of the region, which relies heavily on tourism because it represents 13 per cent of its GDP, at more than 22.5 billion euros,” said Juan Marín at the time.

However, recovery appears to be off to a good start. The results so far have been better than expected, and Marín believes that this year the figures could be similar to those of 2019 with 28 million tourists choosing this destination for their holidays.

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