The White Lotus hotels, Bridgerton filming locations: how HBO and Netflix are influencing where we go on holiday

Want to stay in the hotels shown in The White Lotus? You are not the only one. More and more people are seeking out places in their favourite TV shows and films
The rise in ‘set-jetting’ can partly be traced to the amount of media consumed during the pandemic, say insiders, when people could only travel vicariously

Tourism

Bloomberg

Published: 7:15am, 29 Mar 2023

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Call it the White Lotus effect.

Holidaymakers are flocking to the locations of their favourite television shows and films in growing numbers.

Once upon a time tourists would scope out the Friends flat in New York’s West Village; then Dubrovnik became swamped by Game of Thrones fans; now the phenomenon manifests itself in specific hotels being sold out thanks to The White Lotus.

In a new report from American Express, 70 per cent of Gen Z and millennial travellers say they have been inspired to travel to a destination after seeing it on screen. It is almost as high as the impact of social media: 75 per cent of all respondents say they had travelled to places after seeing friends or others post about their trips.

A still from Emily in Paris. Holidaymakers are flocking to the locations of their favourite television shows. Photo: @FilmUpdates/Twitter

“Travellers are being increasingly inspired by pop culture,” says Audrey Hendley, president of American Express travel.

Some of the rise in popularity of “set-jetting” can be traced to pandemic habits. People who had to eat at home or could not travel binged hours of television, like the smash-hit first seasons of HBO’s The White Lotus or Netflix’s Emily in Paris.

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From their sofa, dreaming ahead to when travel restrictions would be lifted, with an unused leisure budget, viewers started planning a trip where they could be the main character.

Now that borders are back open, set-jetting is booming into one of 2023’s biggest travel trends.

There is no better example of this than The White Lotus. The series was a critical and commercial success for HBO, and a dreamy inspiration for travellers. The comedy-drama chronicled the interactions between wealthy guests and hotel staff at a luxury resort that ends with a person dead.

The San Domenico Palace, Taormina. Photo: Four Seasons

Season one was filmed at the Four Seasons Resort Maui at Wailea, in the US state of Hawaii, and season two featured the sun-drenched, Aperol-spritz-laden seaside idyll that is the San Domenico Palace in Taormina in Sicily, Italy, another Four Seasons property.

Viewers who binged on the show have been booking out the real properties where the show was filmed, looking for la dolce vita of their own, in a boost for the hotels featured.

“The popular set-jetting trend has markedly increased interest in Maui and Taormina, with both properties experiencing a significant jump in website visits and availability checks, ultimately driving more bookings,” says Marc Speichert, executive vice-president and chief commercial officer at Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts.

Season one of The White Lotus was filmed at the Four Seasons Resort Maui at Wailea. Photo: @fourseasons/Instagram

Web traffic to the Four Seasons Maui site increased 425 per cent year over year during season one alone, according to Four Seasons. And all those binge-watchers tuning into HBO on Sunday nights has had a big effect on bookings in Sicily.

“For the coming season in Taormina, the property is sold out over a number of periods and the show has also shone a spotlight on Taormina as an incredible destination,” says Speichert. Prices at the property start at around €1,000 a night (US$1,090).

Rebecca Masri, founder of luxury travel company Little Emperors, says clients – Americans in particular – keep asking about the Four Seasons in Sicily. Demand for Sicily is booming because of the show, she says, but also because it is cheaper than some areas of Italy, such as the Amalfi coast.

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“It’s not just Four Seasons that has benefited,” she points out, saying the show has been a boon to other luxury hotels in the region.

“Rocco Forte and Belmond have hotels in Sicily and they’ve all picked up demand on the back of the series, even though it wasn’t shot there.”

One White Lotus location has been welcoming set-jetters for years. Castello degli Schiavi, about 10 miles (16km) south of the Four Seasons, was an important location in 1972 movie The Godfather.

Castello degli Schiavi served as a location in both 1972 movie “The Godfather” and the second series of “The White Lotus”. Photo: Facebook/@Sicilia paesaggi ricette & proverbi

In one episode of the latest series of The White Lotus, character Bert Di Grasso urges his son and grandson to themselves become set-jetters by paying a visit after having seen the movie on television.

Castello degli Schiavi is a private home but has long been open for public tours.

In Britain, the phenomenon is maturing from a pilgrimage to the busy Kings Cross railway station in London, where Harry Potter fans would visit Platform 9¾, where the fictional boy wizard boarded his train to Hogwarts.

Downton Abbey was filmed at Hampshire’s Highclere Castle in England.

In the early 2010s, hordes of visitors stopped in to see Hampshire’s Highclere Castle, where Downton Abbey was filmed. Now Netflix’s Bridgerton is bringing visitors to spend days in the city of Bath.

“We’re seeing a younger audience come to Bath because of the show,” says Patricia Yates, CEO of VisitBritain, the country’s national tourism agency. “It’s great to see that our history and heritage are being displayed in this way where millennials and Gen Z travellers are coming in greater numbers.”

Filming locations like Castle Howard have seen a surge in younger visitors since the show’s debut.

The Great Bath at the Roman Baths, with Bath Abbey behind, in England. Netflix’s Bridgerton is filmed in the city of Bath. Photo: Neale Clark/Robert Harding

The travel business for American Express recovered to pre-pandemic levels at the end of the fourth quarter last year, Hendley says.

Want to get ahead of the next set-jet crowds? Keep an eye out for the announcement of the next White Lotus filming location. After drawing crowds to Hawaii and Sicily, season three will reportedly be set in Thailand.

Additional reporting by staff reporter

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