“FROM THE top of this gate the rioters threw shit at King Joffrey’s head,” explains Ivan Vukovik, a tour guide, pointing to Pile Gate in Dubrovnik. He is referring to an event in the second season of “Game of Thrones”, a series famous for gratuitous nudity, extraordinary violence and a huge array of characters, from a wise and libidinous dwarf to a princess who convinces three dragons that she is their mother.
Dubrovnik’s old, walled town is instantly recognisable to fans as King’s Landing, the main city in the imaginary world created by George R. R. Martin, the author of the books on which the show is based. Armies of “set-jetters” (a term for fans who visit film locations) descend on Dubrovnik each year, vastly outnumbering its 1,500-odd inhabitants.
In 2015 the mayor claimed that “Game of Thrones” was responsible for half of the city’s annual growth in tourism. Of the 18 walking tours offered by the tourist administration, eight are about “Game of Thrones”. “I had 85 people on the 11am tour. The history walking tour at half past only got 15,” says Mr Vukovik. At a store that sells merchandise from the show, visitors can pay 110 kuna ($17) to be photographed on a replica of the Iron Throne, the uncomfortable seat over which the main characters fight. As your correspondent stood on the city’s elegant 17th-century Jesuit Stairs, an Australian tourist stripped down to his speedos while onlookers threw flip-flops at him chanting “shame!”, a re-enactment of an even ruder scene from the show. Nearby bars offer “shame mojitos”.
Dubrovnik is not the only place invaded by “Game of Thrones” fans. One in six foreign tourists to Northern Ireland last year was apparently inspired to visit because of the show. Visitors spent £50m ($63m) during their stay, according to the country’s main tourism body. Spain, too, has seen a big influx.
Such tourism boosts the local economy, but can be annoying. “We went all over Croatia and didn’t see another American, but here I can’t throw a stick without hitting one,” complains Shannon, who has come from Texas to visit her family. (King Joffrey would have known what to do about unsightly crowds, but it wouldn’t be legal today.) Dubrovnik is under threat of losing its UNESCO world heritage status because of over-tourism. One cashier hopes the boom “dies soon”, like so many characters in “Game of Thrones”. She will be happy when winter comes.
