The crowning of poncho tourism

The pilot project of the Spain Film Commission to travel to the Spain of filming will make the scenarios of 'The Good, the Bad and the Ugly' an immersive experience of international significance

Diario de Burgos

July 2, 2025

[David Alba and Sergio García, heart and soul of the Sad Hill Association, the pioneer of film tourism in the province, in an image from 2015. - Photo: Jesús J. Matías] 

The inventors of poncho tourism – Clint Eastwood's, what else? – have just hit the jackpot with the patent. They are not going to make money, they have never intended to, but they are going to make the adventure started by three crazy people on August 27, 2013 take a great leap in quality and become one of the pillars of the so-called filming tourism in Spain. The Spain Film Commission (SFC) has chosen it as one of the 4 pilot projects that will make up its Experiences Programme, which seeks to "transform the way in which national and international visitors discover Spain, connecting them with the destinations that have been the scene of great audiovisual productions and that have inspired throughout history various artistic manifestations such as writing, painting, music, cinema and series", as explained by the SFC in a statement. The other three experimental plans will be developed in Formentera, Seville and Galicia, a coastal destination, an urban destination and a rural destination with the sea that are complemented by the natural settings that the Arlanza region provided for Sergio Leone's mythical film.

The presentation workshop in Burgos was held this Wednesday with the participation of the four municipalities linked to Sad Hill (Santo Domingo de Silos, Covarrubias, Contreras and Carazo), as well as with representatives of the Sad Hill Association, which has managed the Burgos Film Commission until a few months ago, and Sodebur, whose president Carlos Gallo has nothing but words of gratitude for the work started by Sergio García, David Alba and Antonio Sanz (missing from the photo that illustrates this report) more than a decade ago. "They have discovered film tourism in the province and especially in the Arlanza region," says the provincial deputy.

The work of the SFC will follow a methodological structure applied by the UN in several projects and focused on innovation, sustainability, public-private collaboration and the focus on the local community and the people who visit the territory as the center of the experience. This Wednesday the Pre-production has started, with which it is intended to define a first version of the tourist product, which includes the itinerary, the application of technologies such as App with augmented reality, QR codes, audio-guides, behind-the-scenes videos; the sensory components (music, food or themed costumes), the training of local guides and agents and the dissemination plan. To do this, it will be necessary to work on the ground, identify the gastronomic, hotel and transport resources and draw a profile of the typical tourist, but also delve into the making of the film and work on the filming locations, mainly the Sad Hill cemetery - the most visited place in the Sabinares del Arlanza-La Yecla Natural Park - and the Betterville prison camp.

[Carlos Gallo (left), president of Sodebur, speaks at the workshop held in Covarrubias.]

In the second part, called Shooting, it will be tested with pilot visits, surveys, interviews... to reinforce strengths and redesign what doesn't work. With the third step, Post-Production, the experience of this screen tourism will be officially activated, to quantify over time not only the number of visitors, but also the economic and media return of the project and its socio-cultural and environmental sustainability.