To the thrill of many, including myself, The White Lotus season 3 just recently premiered—and companies are already publicizing White Lotus-inspired travel tours to jump on the bandwagon, while the hotels used as filming locations are exploring how to capitalize and expand on what fans are seeing on their screens.
How are destinations riding the wave of such TV shows’ popularity? Many are working to create rich experiences for visitors who want immersive adventures inspired by popular fiction but that go beyond simply recreating a TV or movie moment.
Set-Jetting: Travelers Seeking Out Filming Locations
The concept of wanting to set foot in a filming location (often called screen tourism or set-jetting) isn’t new—for example, plenty of people have been inspired to visit the English village of Lacock because it appeared in multiple Harry Potter films and in Downton Abbey. But the phenomenon has expanded, with research from the Expedia Group showing that nearly 30% of travelers say that movies and especially TV shows are even more influential in drawing them to a destination than Instagram, Facebook or TikTok.
We can see this with Montana and Wyoming becoming more notable travel destinations thanks to the popularity of Yellowstone, as well as Albuquerque’s guided tours of Breaking Bad filming locations.
As for the filming locations for HBO’s anthology series The White Lotus, the jump in these locations’ popularity has been astonishing. For the Four Seasons Resort Maui at Wailea, where season 1 was filmed, the hotel saw a 386% increase in availability checks during that first season and had a 425% year-over-year increase in website visits. Apparently season 2’s filming location, the Four Seasons San Domenico Palace in Taormina, Sicily, was booked out for six months when it reopened after filming.
Destinations Building More Immersive Experiences in Response
These hotels and destinations are definitely working to tap into people’s desire for a deeply engaging experience and to help fans feel like their favorite characters.
Meanwhile, Lorenzo Maraviglia, the general manager of San Domenico Palace, wants to enrich guests’ experiences beyond what they saw on TV—making sure people see something else outside of the hotel, like exploring the art, culture and food of their particular region in Sicily.
Jasjit Assi, the general manager of Four Seasons Resort Koh Samui (where The White Lotus season 3 did a lot of filming) is also making sure they offer a variety of cultural experiences like cooking classes and Muay Thai lessons to take people beyond the TV show. He is also trying to arrange Buddhism talks with a local monk.
At the same time, Anantara Hotels, Resorts & Spas are promoting “Lotus Awakening Escape” trip packages in Phuket and Koh Samui. And why not, when the show also filmed at three Anantara resorts on those two large islands? Even National Geographic has a list of Thai islands to visit if you’re feeling inspired by the show.
Ultimately, TV shows like The White Lotus are thoroughly capturing audiences’ imaginations. In response, destinations are then working to go a step further to make people’s set-jetting visits actually be life-changing experiences. Of course, destinations must also be careful about balancing their new influx of visitors with maintaining and protecting what makes them so magical in the first place. Set-jetting destinations will need to have practices in place to ensure their infrastructure can reliably and sustainably welcome so many travelers without accidentally sacrificing their identity.
