subject: New Film Festival For Majorca [print this page] There's plenty of international film festivals in the world, but if done properly it can help generate huge publicity for the host.
A good example is the Venice Film Festival, which has been running for over sixty years, and helps boost visitor numbers for the Italian city at the end of August and early September.
Hotels are at full occupancy just as the European summer tourist season starts to wind down, and spending in the cafes and restaurants is up, giving Venice and her businesses a great boost compared to other European cities.
And apart from the obvious two weeks of full capacity, the publicity generated around the world ensures Venice is considered for a visit at other times of the year when it's less busy by tourists looking for a few days away or including the city as part of a European tour.
The film festival is a week long advertisement, promoting Venice as a tourist destination, and there can be little doubt that Venice has an air of romance and culture as an image around the world. Daily reports from the world's media including the US TV networks, the BBC, Sky and other news outlets help to promote the city in tourists minds when they come to book a trip.
The media coverage crosses the generations as the film festival is carried in celebrity and gossip magazines, plus increasingly on-line too.
So it's no surprise given the publicity that's gnerated around film festivals like Venice - and Cannes too - that Majorca is to try to do one too.
If all goes well the first Majorca Film Festival will take place in April 2011 - a good month to stage it according to local travel guide yourmajorca.net who say:
'The film festival will be at the beginning of the tourist season and allow Majorca to get off to a flying start for 2011 - and with the extra publicity generated could mean 2011 will be a great year for the Majorca holidays industry.'
They also point out that the organisers haven't just given Majorca holidays a flying start but that the timing keeps it away from both the Cannes Film Festival - mid May - and the Venice Film Festival for the end of August, ensuring that the film world will be able to include the island in their diaries.
The film festival organisers obviously know what they're doing, and it bodes well for Majorca.
