Screen tourism isn’t new: The stunning footage of destinations like New Zealand in Lord of the Rings—or, more recently, the City of Light in Emily in Paris and the national park in Yellowstone—have inspired armchair travelers to get off the couch and onto a plane, "set-jetting" to those locations. Now, 2023 has been declared the ‘Year of the Set-Jetter' by Expedia, whose research shows that movies and TV shows are the #1 travel inspiration in the U.S. Expedia reports that 68 percent of travelers thought about visiting a destination from a TV show or movie and a 61 percent actually booked a set-jetting trip.
Although The White Lotus, one of the most notable inspirations for screen tourism, is gearing up for Thailand in season 3, The White Lotus' first two featured destinations are still brimming with set-jetters. While the mini-series is centered around the misery of rich, entitled vacationers, the White Lotus filming destinations (Four Seasons Resort Maui at Wailea for the first season and San Domenico Palace in Sicily for the second) have fueled demand for the resorts where they were filmed. Season 1 highlighted some of the ugliest parts of tourism (exploitation, white privilege, colonialism) while also showcasing the natural beauty of the Hawaiian islands. So, how does reality stack up to the drama? I visited the Four Seasons Resort Maui, the setting for season one, to find out.
