Since the creation of the Tenerife Film Commission, in the year 2000, our island has hosted the filming of more than two thousand productions, which is said to be soon. Specifically, 2,038. This has meant more than 324 million economic impact on the entire value chain of the audiovisual sector of our island.
Photography sessions, advertising, television programs, documentaries, feature films, short films or animation works stand out, as well as video clips. By nationality, Spanish productions and those from countries of the European Union rank first.
If we analyze in detail the data that we have since the year 2000, between that year and 2018 filming left around 130 million euros on the island, while between 2019 and 2022, the cost exceeded 194 million. We are talking, therefore, that 60 percent of the economic investment of the last twenty-two years has been generated in the last four years. Only last year 2022, the economic investment exceeded 101 million euros. And the forecast for the coming years is for the sector to continue with this trend.
If we make an analysis of the reasons that have caused this tremendous development in the sector, we could especially point out that Tenerife offers a variety of very diverse locations in a small space. Its lighting conditions are optimal for the industry, to which we must add the well-known goodness of our climate, which offers a guarantee and a wider range of shooting possibilities.
In addition, the island has top-level strategic infrastructures: from excellent air connectivity with almost 140 points in the world -including important hubs-, through its two international airports, to accommodation and complementary services for leisure or business that a very interesting synergy between the tourism and audiovisual sectors.
It also highlights the development of the local audiovisual sector. An increasingly powerful sector endowed with fully prepared technical and human resources, capable of developing its own works with possibilities of international marketing, in addition to serving the most relevant international productions with the highest budget. This is a very relevant attraction factor for audiovisual activity, since international productions do not have to move so much human and technical equipment from outside the island.
To complete the equation, Canary Islands It has a very attractive and powerful framework of tax incentives, both for attracting audiovisual productions and for setting up companies in the sector. All this as a consequence of our Economic and Fiscal Regime that notably improves the framework of fiscal incentives at a national level. However, it can be stated, without fear of being wrong, that the Canary Islands have one of the most powerful and attractive tax incentive systems in the world.
For all of the above, it is a reality that Tenerife is already on the world map of the most attractive destinations where you can shoot any project. And that is why he Council of Tenerife declared in 2018 the audiovisual sector as strategic for the economic and social development of the island; so that it is not a possibility of economic diversification, but, as is demonstrated by the figures that support it, a true reality.
Tenerife is a film friendly destination and the challenge ahead of us is exciting, but obviously complicated: maintaining and even increasing this growing activity is the objective, taking into account that it is also very important for the Film Commission and for the public administration to carry out the appropriate steps to authorize strategic filming that is requested in our territory and contribute significantly to the sector and the island’s economy.
We must take into account the importance of preserving our territory, but it is also important to find a way to expedite permits and reduce the bureaucratic network in order to give a prompt response to producers who choose Tenerife for their national and international filming.
video clips
It is common for Tenerife to transcend the shooting of series and feature films, due to the relevance of the actors and actresses involved and the deployment of technical and human resources that, we insist, are increasingly local, due to the quality of their work. However, another of the trends on the island -although it is not the most numerous- is to become the setting for video clips by international artists, but also national and local ones. The year 2021 broke the record for filming of this type on the island and, despite the fact that, in 2022, the trend dropped to one, this year, Tenerife has already hosted three of them.
To cite some of the most relevant in the history of this type of production on the island:
The video clip that Shakira shot in 2021 stands out. Don’t Wait Upproduced by Sony Music, focuses most of the story on the artist on a board in the wave pool of the Siam Park and on Abama beach, in Guide from Isora. Currently, the video clip has, only on YouTube, more than 56 million views.
Another of the most recent and outstanding is the video clip shot by the French duo Vitaa and Slimane, with their song Ça ira, also in 2021, and which shows several scenes in the Teide National Park. A video that currently has almost 24 million views on YouTube.
It was also shot on Mount Teide, but in 2004, one of the video clips of the then debuting artist James Blunt. The originality of High, shot on the Llano de Ucanca, places this video of the singer, known for other iconic songs from that first album such as You are beautiful, with 28 million views on YouTube. Of course, the importance of platforms like YouTube almost 20 years ago is not the current one. That’s why it’s more normal than videos like Tonto, which Lola Indigo premiered with the Gran Canaria Quevedo Three months ago on the same platform, it has already had more than 23 million views. The filming took place in the Maspalomas Dunesbut the so-called leper colony in Abades, in the Tenerife municipality of Arico, also plays a leading role.
The commitment to local scenes and symbols of the island is also a hallmark of the video clips made by artists from the island itself, such as Maikel Delacalle who, in addition to title Teide one of his latest songs, decided to shoot his promotional video in the National Park. Currently, it has more than 85 thousand views, after having been released just three weeks ago.
