Costa Almeria tourism tipped to get a boost from Game of Thrones season 6 filming
- Key filming locations in Costa Almeria revealed
- Holiday rental prices set to benefit from the Game of Thrones effect (Kyero.com)
- Season 5 set UK ratings record for Sky Atlantic
Spain is once more in the grip of Game of Thrones fever, with thousands of potential extras queuing up in Girona this month for the chance to be part of George RR Martin’s epic fantasy world as filming for season six takes place in Spain. The filming will move from Girona to Navarra and then on to the seaside location of Peñiscola during September.
In October, the film crews will head over to the stunning Costa Almeria region, where work is already underway preparing scenery in areas such as El Chorrilo de Sierra Alhamilla (Pechina), where the construction of a settlement featuring huts around a church is rumoured to be underway.
The filming of season five, which set ratings records when shown on Sky Atlantic earlier this year, attracting a 6.7% share of the UK audience, has had a marked impact on tourism in areas where it was filmed. These include the Spanish city of Seville and nearby Osuna. Companies have sprung up offering tours of filming locations and interest in the area has attracted fans from far beyond the local region.
With filming for season six well underway, the impact on Costa Almeria filming locations is hotly anticipated. Martin Dell, Director of Spanish property portal Kyero.com, which lists more than 200,000 homes from 3,000 estate agents, including a range of holiday rentals in Costa Almeria, comments,
“We’ve seen a huge boost in tourism as a result of the filming of Game of Thrones in other areas of Spain, as well as in its headquarters in Northern Ireland. Fans love to be able to visit the areas that they’ve seen form part of the series and chosen locations definitely benefit. I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see rental prices rising along the Costa Almeria once season six airs and it is subject to the Game of Thrones effect.”
According to Almeria City Council, the Carboneras municipal stadium will host the film crew and the 400 extras who will be used in filming on October 18 and 19 in the Paraje de Mesa Roldan in the Natural Park of Cabo de Gata-Nijar. Other local sites tipped to be included in the popular series are the Rambla del Cautivo the Almeria Citadel and the Chorrillo de Pechina, where extras will include more than 100 Almeria-born horses, as well as the hundreds of locals keen to be a part of the epic series.
According to data from Kyero.com, average holiday rental prices in the Costa Almeria are currently €643 per week, with apartments accounting for two thirds of all rentals. The most popular locations are Mojacar, Vera and Arboleas. The area is most popular with holidaymakers from the UK, France and Germany, though it also has double the usual proportion of visitors from Belgium and Sweden. It will be interesting to see just how the huge impact of Game of Thrones will affect these statistics over the coming year, as the excitement regarding the latest season builds.
For further details on properties to rent and buy across Spain, visit www.kyero.com.