With HBO announcing plans to preserve select Game of Thrones sets for tourists, interest in seeing where the network filmed scenes for the iconic series is at an all-time high. If you’re on the tourism board of a country like Northern Ireland or a city like Dubrovnik, Croatia, you’re sitting pretty, but there can be too much of a good thing.
Take Dubrovnik, which has long stood in for King’s Landing. Game of Thrones fans have been flocking to the city for years, but of late, interest has ballooned to potentially disruptive levels. In 2015, there were 300 city tours related to the show. In 2017, there were 4,500, and the number has only grown since then. The Old City, the most picturesque part, is overcrowded and may even be in danger of losing its distinction as an UNESCO World Heritage Site, a designation given to parts of the world considered to have cultural, historical or scientific significance. UNESCO sites are also legally protected by international treaties, and it’s in Dubrovnik’s interest to make sure it remains one.
This is what’s on the mind of Dubrovnik mayor Mato Frankovic. He recently talked to CNN about the problem. Roll the tape:
“We are very proud of our city,” Frankovic says. “We are very proud of our tourism, but we think that we actually need to take a bit of [a] break in releasing and slowing down the number of the tourists that are coming at the same time to Dubrovnik.”
We want to provide high quality to all of the tourists. A lot of them are coming to Dubrovnik. Some of them are coming, of course, because of the Game of Thrones…It is a really ancient city with a rich history and we want for all of our tourists to have a great quality of destination.
It sounds like the main problem is just overcrowding, with too many people in the Old City at once. Frankovic and his team are taking measures, including limiting the number of cruise ships that can dock in the city at once, removing tables from outdoor areas, and more. “We need to cut some things down,” Frankovic says. “We actually lose some money because of that, but we were ready to do that in order to gain the future success of Dubrovnik tourism. We want all of the tourists to come to Dubrovnik, but we need to give them information [as to] what is the best time of arrival.”
Dubrovnik has an interesting tight rope to walk here, inviting in enough tourists to support the economy but not so many that the experience becomes unpleasant and UNESCO yanks its support. We hope it finds its way through. The history of Game of Thrones must be preserved!
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