The movie business is generating good business for hotels in the Dominican Republic. Indeed it was a savior during the difficult times of the pandemic year of 2020.
Dozens of films for the movies and TV, including Neflix, reality shows and documentaries, are being filmed here, taking advantage of the variety of locations, the facilities and the tax incentives in the films law.
Diario Libre reports that the hotel industry is getting an unexpected boost with thousands of hotel room bookings by crews and actors for the films. In a feature published on 6 June 2022, Diario Libre reports t hat at least 54 national and foreign film productions since 2020 have meant thousands of rooms booked.
Of the film products, 45 were filmed in Samaná, Santo Domingo, San Pedro de Macorís, Puerto Plata, La Romana, Santiago, La Vega among other cities with budgets of over RD$7.1 billion.
The crews working in the filming reserve lodging for the pre-production, production and post-production stages. For instance, HBO’s documentary mini-series “Exterminate all the Brutes”, about the exploitative and genocidal aspects of European colonialism, one of the biggest expenses was for hotel nights during pre-production. The shooting was a blessing in 2020 when hotel otherwise, hotel occupancy collapsed due to Covid-19. As reported in Diario Libre, the production had a budget of RD$101 million and occupied 149 rooms, for 775 nights, according to the DGCine report.
Felipe Vicini, member of the board of directors of Lantica Media, a major production site in San Pedro de Macorís, explained to Diario Libre that the Dominican Republic was the first destination to open to the world for filming in the pandemic year.
Last week, in his participation in the V Ibero-American Congress of the Business Council Alliance for Ibero-America (Ceapi), Vicini highlighted that Samaná was one of the “great beneficiaries” of the projects filmed in the pandemic. “Three hotels were opened that were closed during Covid, precisely to house the crews, the actors,” he said.
“I am told by the governor of Samana that, if it had not been for the film industry during covid, the province would have disappeared, practically,” he reported.
The US film “Old”, starring Gael García Bernal, Vicky Krieps, Rufus Sewell, Alex Wolff, Thomasin McKenzie and Abbey Lee, among others, began shooting on 26 September 2020 and continued until 15 November 2020. Filming took place in La Altagracia, La Romana, María Trinidad Sánchez, Puerto Plata, Samaná, San Pedro de Macorís and Santo Domingo. It involved the booking of 2,855 rooms and 73,532 nights. Its budget was RD$663.4 million.
In 2021, there was an upturn in filming. Under the incentives of Law 108-10 alone, 38 projects were filmed. In that year, Dominican tourism shook up and closed with a hotel occupancy rate of 74.3% over the total number of rooms in operation, according to data from the Ministry of Tourism.
As reported in Diario Libre, the film “Shotgun Wedding,” starring Jennifer Lopez and Josh Duhamel, booked 28,308 nights and promoted the country abroad. Filming took place from 22 February to 21 April 2021.
The popular reality show Survivor also benefits the Dominican hospitality industry. One of its versions was filmed in La Altagracia, La Romana, Samaná and Santo Domingo, and the filming alone took 335 days in 2021. DGCine told Diario Libre reporters that the reality show had both permanent personnel and an itinerant crew, who came in and out of the country. According to DGCine, 1,513 rooms and 64,430 nights were booked for this production. Its budget was RD$821 million.
The Survivor Nordic countries’ version booked 649 rooms and 15,634 hotel nights. It had a budget of 359.2 million and filming alone – carried out in Samaná – took place from 14 April 14 to 1 September 2021.
The country was the location for “The Lost City”, starring Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum. The production required 36,550 hotel nights and filming was from 24 May to 12 August 2021.
Likewise, the Korean TV series Suriname, produced by Netflix, shot from 4 November to 28 Dec 2021, booked 4,845 room nights.
This year there are already at least three international projects under the incentives of the film law. One is the feature film Nyad for Neflix, shot between 15 March and 11 May 2022 booked 21,090 room nights.
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Diario Libre
7 June 2022