The “Smurf Village” of Juzcar © dailymail.co.uk
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Call it exceptional marketing, but after filming wrapped on the recent “Smurfs” film, the Spanish village of Juzcar (with buildings painted blue exclusively for the film) experienced a spike in tourism.
Located near Malaga in Andalucia, the hillside village formerly housed whitewashed buildings. However, keeping the buildings blue, pulled in an extra 80,000 visitors in the last six months. Before the ‘Smurf-ed’ set, Juzcar typically received about 300 tourists a year.
The popularity led to a village-wide vote this week to keep the buildings blue permanently. As Mayor David Fernandez Tirado said, “It’s given a boost to the local economy, it’s increased our happiness, our dreams and our levels of employment”.
Additional photos here detail the village’s buildings and festive children.