Game of Thrones locations: Tourism boom expected as shooting begins in Spain

Film crews have started shooting part of the fifth season of popular US fantasy television series Game of Thrones in the southern Spanish city of Seville, delighting local authorities who expect a tourism boost.

Onlookers held up umbrellas to protect themselves against driving rain as they tried to look over a pastel coloured synthetic canvas set up around the gardens of the Real Alcazar palace. The barrier was set up to keep plot details of the Home Box Office series secret.

The palace, a masterpiece of Islamic architecture in old Seville packed with columned courtyards and elaborately tiled halls, said on its website that it will undergo "partial closures" until the end of October during the filming of the series.

Producers have reportedly obtained special permission to tint the waters of the pools of the palace's courtyard gardens dark blue for one scene of the fifth season of the series, which started filming in Northern Ireland earlier this year.

The Real Alcazar is one of Seville's top tourist attractions. It draws more than 3000 visitors a day. The oldest parts of the sprawling complex date back to the 10th century.

Seville, with its picturesque laneways, hidden plazas and flower-decked patios, already attracts about two million tourists a year, and local officials are optimistic that the series will bring even more visitors.

"We will have to endure some inconvenience, taking into account the possible generation of jobs and the impact on tourism that this will have," Seville mayor Juan Ignacio Zoido told reporters earlier this week.

The Croatian city of Dubrovnik, where three seasons of the popular show were filmed starting in 2011, reported a jump in visitor numbers after the episodes aired and special Game of Thrones location tours sprung up.