‘Even the pigeons have no place to land’: Dubrovnik’s Game of Thrones tourism
- Medieval walled city doubles as King’s Landing in hit HBO series, making it a draw for Game of Thrones fans. Townspeople like the business, not the bottlenecks
- Locals no longer bat an eyelid when tourists gather to re-enact scenes from the series, but worry the old town has turned into a shopping centre for tourists
Shepherding tourists through the arches and towers of Croatia’s medieval walled city of Dubrovnik, Ivan Vukovic spends half his time leading tours of a capital that does not exist: the fictional King’s Landing from “Game of Thrones”.
The two cities now rival each other for fame after Dubrovnik – already a tourist and cruise ship magnet – became a set in 2011 for the cult HBO series, whose final season starts on April 14 (April 15 in East Asia).
Doubling as King’s Landing, the capital of Westeros’ Seven Kingdoms, “can be a blessing and it can be a curse” for Dubrovnik, says 38-year-old guide Vukovic.
While the “Game of Thrones” stardom has been a boon for his business, it is also bringing a new inundation of visitors to a city already struggling with overcrowding.
“It’s an amazing thing because it brings us so many people, but now we do not know what to do with those people,” said the guide, describing bottlenecks that choke the city’s limestone streets in peak summer season.