Purpose: This study aims to critically evaluate the scientific evolution of film-induced tourism research from 1998 to 2024, identifying its transformative impact on tourism management and destination marketing. Our study seeks to uncover the pivotal role of audiovisual fiction in shaping tourist behavior, constructing destination images and influencing global travel motivations. Design/methodology/approach: A bibliometric analysis was conducted using the Scopus database, covering 386 documents. The study employed VOSviewer software to map co-authorship networks, keyword co-occurrence and thematic clusters, revealing multidisciplinary contributions and collaboration patterns. Findings: The analysis reveals a steady increase in research activity, with a significant rise in interest after 2020. Two primary research clusters emerge: one focused on tourist motivations and profiles and another on the influence of audiovisual media in shaping destination images. Despite a broad multidisciplinary approach, limited collaboration among researchers and institutions was observed. The findings underline the growing role of film-induced tourism as a strategic tool for destination management and marketing. Research limitations/implications: This study is limited by its exclusive reliance on the Scopus database, which may underrepresent non-English publications and contributions from emerging regions. Additionally, the use of a single bibliometric tool (VOSviewer) may restrict the scope of thematic clustering. Future studies should incorporate alternative databases and complementary analytical tools to enhance coverage and robustness. Despite these limitations, the findings offer valuable insights for advancing international collaboration and interdisciplinary dialog in film-induced tourism research. Practical implications: The study demonstrates that film-induced tourism is an expanding field of research, with a well-established impact on travel motivations and the construction of destination images. However, it still faces significant challenges related to international collaboration and interdisciplinary engagement among researchers and institutions. Originality/value: This work not only highlights emerging trends and gaps in collaboration among researchers and institutions but also provides actionable insights for leveraging media-driven tourism as a strategic tool for sustainable development and competitive advantage in the tourism industry.

The main aim of this paper is to reveal how the image of Andalusian women was fossilised and re-imagined for tourism during a decisive timeframe (1905–1975), to wit, how Bizet's most well-known heroine became a reified embodiment of Spanish women by turning ‘Carmen’ into a highly domesticated folkloric singer, a symbolic doll. To understand how this process was showcased in cinemas, a sampling of 104 films featuring tourists has been analysed using NVivo software, detecting every mention in their plots of specific categories such as those connected with Andalusian women in folkloric films (Labanyi, J. 2004. Lo andaluz en el cine del franquismo: los estereotipos como estrategia para manejar la contradicción. Sevilla: Centro de Estudios Andaluces. https://www.centrodeestudiosandaluces.es/publicaciones/lo-andaluz-en-el-cine-del-franquismo-los-estereotipos-como-estrategia-para-manejar-la-contradiccion): ‘Spanish Gypsies’ and ‘Flamenco World’. A first approach to the sampling suggests that the interrelationship between these categories intensified in the 1920s and 1930s, the first period in which cinema was deliberately used as political propaganda by Spanish filmmakers, the aim being to promote tradition in the lead-up to the 1929 Ibero-American Exposition in Seville. The increasing relevance of the category of ‘Andalusian Women’ can also be perceived during early Francoism, which is key evidence for the concept of reification of the female Gypsy dancer for tourism purposes and the transformation of ‘Carmen’ into a living, standardised Spanish souvenir during the developmentalist period.

This article analyses the production of audiovisual fiction as an instrument for disseminating the image of the Alhambra (Granada) and the Royal Alcazar (Seville) for tourism purposes. The methodology used was twofold: qualitative, carrying out an exhaustive bibliographic review, but also quantitative, using primary sources, through the identification of the films shot, visualization and collection of metadata of the scenes filmed. The information, previously structured, also allows a double analysis: temporal, considering five stages, and spatial, identifying and mapping more than twenty significant places within both sites. In its temporal dimension, the main conclusion refers to the different significance of cinema in the dissemination of the image of both sites: very prominent during Franco’s regime, with a profusion of foreign productions (Alhambra), while from the democratic period onwards it is the Royal Alcazar which offers a greater number of filming. In its spatial dimension, it has been verified that the 19th century formats in charge of disseminating images established a canon of places according to a certain degree of exoticism, which has been perpetuated by cinematography without significant changes.

This paper focuses on the study of the so-called Spanish national "difference", fostered by Early Francoism (1940-1959), and depicted in "espanolada" films featuring tourists, as a means to indoctrinate Spaniards in favour of the tourism activity. In order to fulfil our objective, this article analyses 45 films using NVivo Software. The results, supported by statistical analysis, reinforce our qualitative hypothesis and suggest an iteration of four trends as key elements of the Francoist "difference", linked to the Andalusian synechdoche of Spain, which has been scarcely studied from the point of view of early tourism and cinematographic indoctrination, and reveals the significance of this period throughout the twentieth century.

This chapter aims to explore the urban spaces created for the Ibero-American Exposition (Seville, Spain, 1929) through their cinematographic depiction. It provides a different perspective, analysing five singular films that demonstrate how preparations for the international fair were intentionally showcased in cinemas with a view to establishing Seville’s international image. These films, which also highlight the figure of contemporary visitors, will help us understand how Seville was architecturally configured in the early 20th century as a double and deliberate fiction for tourism: the whitewashed Andalusian garden city portrayed as a passionate and mythical setting for cinema audiences, an invention immediately identified with traditional Spain.

This paper aims to demonstrate that Hollywood film-induced tourism strategies also resonated in Spain in the 1950s, coinciding with the arrival of large contingents of American tourists in historical European cities. The use of these techniques, at a key moment of the diffident opening-up of Franco's regime, was adopted as a new and promising means to diffuse the traditionally Andalusian-inspired brand, combining the wit of Bienvenido Mister Marshall with the flamboyance of Duende y Misrerio del Flamenco (both winners at Cannes 1953), and taking as a model pioneering films such as Roman holiday, 1953 and Summertime, 1955. To this end, the promotional strategies of 6 films featuring tourists and shot in Andalusia during the period 1953-1959 are analysed. The results, computerised using NVivo software, suggest, not only the use of wit and flamboyance, but also the display of inductive techniques such as the depiction of an open tourist context, the mobilisation of tourist celebrities (Antonio 'the dancer', Pedro de Cordoba, Pastora Imperio, Dolores Vargas or Carmen Sevilla), as well as the portrayal of Spanish culture for foreign tourists in search of authenticity, with characters performed by international players (Genevieve Page, Merle Oberon, Vittorio De Sica or Ludmilla Tcherina).