MADRID: The film camera swept across the cobbled streets, taking in Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz on a motorcycle as they raced behind a pack of bulls and dozens of men dressed in white with red scarves. The Hollywood stars filmed the bull run scene last month in the historic centre of Cadiz in southwestern Spain for the new James Mangold-directed action-comedy “Knight and Day” which is set to hit US theatres in July 2010. Producers hope the film will be a blockbuster while local officials hope the scenes shot in Cadiz and in the nearby city of Seville will highlight the charms of the region of whitewashed villages and attract more tourists. The Cadiz municipal government made it easier for producers to get permits to shoot in the narrow alleys of the old town, provided offices for castings as well as police to keep onlookers at bay during filming. “This is part of efforts by the municipality to promote the city, attract film producers and project Cadiz’s tourism image internationally,” Cadiz councilman Bruno Garcia who is in charge of tourism told local media. With Spain facing a slump in the number of tourists, several local governments in Spain are encouraging movies with an international scope to be made in their backyards in a bid to reverse the trend. Often the goal is to draw attention to towns or landscapes that have been largely overlooked by a tourism model that previously relied heavily on sun and sea holiday packages at ageing coastal resorts that are falling out of favour. Last year, Spain lost its ranking as the world’s second most visited country to the United States as the number of tourists it welcomed dropped 2.3 per cent to 57.3 million, its first reversal in visitor numbers in over a decade. The government expects the number of visitors to drop this year by 10 per cent. Apart from the recession and the weakness of the British pound, Spain has also suffered from increased competition in recent years from cheaper sunshine destinations in the Eastern Mediterranean. Earlier this year US actor Martin Sheen began shooting scenes in northern Spain for “The Way”, a movie directed by his son Emilio Estevez about the “Way of St James” pilgrimage route also known as the “Camino de Santiago”. The action of “The Way” takes place against a backdrop of picturesque towns along the route such as Burgos, Leon and Logrono which are not firmly on the tourist radar. Sometimes local governments give cash incentives to filmmakers. Barcelona’s city hall provided one million euros for the making of US director Woody Allen’s 2008 movie “Vicky Cristina Barcelona” starring Scarlett Johansson which has been described as a “love letter” to the port city. The regional government of the Canary Islands has agreed to partially finance a remake of the classic 1973 prison break film “Papillon” on the archipelago which will be made by Hollywood producer Branko Lustig. Movies have helped boost visitor numbers in other nations. New Zealand got a massive tourism fillip after the “The Lord of the Rings” fantasy trilogy was set there. Britain’s national tourism agency VisitBritain estimates one in five of the nation’s international tourists were inspired to visit by images they saw in movies or on television. Spain’s potential for tours inspired by movie locations is “enormous” according to British journalist Bob Yareham.