The €300,000 the regional government contributed to the shoot of Enrique Iglesias’s latest music video in various locations across Galicia will mean, as sources close to the production company told ABC, that “62 million people (the combined total of his social media followers) are guaranteed to receive Enrique’s invitation to travel to Galicia”. Although the video is released today, the production company expects that, “by a conservative estimate”, it will reach no fewer than one hundred million views. Hence the Xunta’s support for the shoot is regarded as promotion in step with the times, taking advantage of “the benefits of digital media to reach the whole world at a marginal cost”.
The regional contribution to the shoot — attacked in Parliament by the BNG, which called the funding “a gracious concession to the singer” — also reached the Xunta’s weekly cabinet meeting this Thursday. Asked about it at the press conference after the meeting, regional president Alberto Núñez Feijóo said that “what we want with this video is to make Galicia known, and the more millions of people see images of it, the better our chances of being a tourist destination in the world”.
Regarding the controversy, the artist’s management office stated yesterday in a press release that Enrique Iglesias did not receive “a single cent” of the €300,000 the Xunta allocated to the music video “Noche y de día”, shot in Galicia, and that “the entire budget” went to “production costs and per diems”. Sources close to the production company also stress that this is the first video the singer has shot in Spain, and add that promoting tourism in Galicia through a conventional campaign on Spanish television alone would have cost several million euros, “reaching only a small fraction of people”.
Galicia, at the start of the clip
As for the most recognizable Galician settings appearing at the start (locations in A Coruña, Vigo, Santiago, Ribadeo and the Carboeiro monastery can be seen, as well as a caption placing the scenes in Galicia), the same sources explain that this is intended to reach even viewers who do not watch the whole clip, only its opening.
For his part, the video’s producer, José María Besteiro, argues that part of the Tourism department’s investment has already been recouped, referring to the more than €100,000 that went to Galician companies and professionals involved in the production, such as hospitality businesses and lighting and catering workers who supported the shoot in Galicia.
AUTHOR: P. ABET
SOURCE: Diario ABC
