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A resurgent travel trend is seeing a rise in the number of holidaymakers heading to locations made famous by their favourite movies or TV shows.
‘Set-jetting’ is attracting travellers to iconic destinations from the screen, with nearly a third saying films and TV series are playing more of a role in their travel plans than ever before.
It’s also the reason why around 50% of visitors to the UK say they’re hoping to visit a location they’ve seen on the screen.
RAA Travel General Manager Gina Norman said huge numbers of holidaymakers were including a visit to their favourite film spot as part of their next trip.
“This is a trend we’ve been seeing for a while but it’s starting to really take off with the rise in the number of TV shows on streaming services,” Gina said.
“Game of Thrones was enormous and contributed almost $300m to the Croatian economy, and saw visitation to Dubrovnik hit record highs.
“Harry Potter still sees thousands of travellers head to the UK to visit popular spots such as the Jacobite Steam Train in Scotland, which was the train and location use for the Hogwarts Express.
“More recently, the luxurious locations of the White Lotus series in Hawaii and Sicily have seen a huge surge in interest since the show began.
“If you’re a Ted Lasso fan, the leafy London suburb of Richmond has seen interest spike more than 160 per cent, in large part thanks to the show.”
Gina also said new shows being aired often led to their featured locations booking out years in advance, and a big rush on Thailand is expected with the next series of White Lotus to be set there.
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