The numbers come first. Tourism in Thailand rose 300% after The White Lotus filmed there, according to Thailand's Department of International Trade Promotion. In Montana, the neo-Western drama Yellowstone motivated at least 2.1 million travelers to visit the state in 2021, generating more than $730 million in revenue, per a University of Montana report. A single luxury travel advisor in Philadelphia recently booked a $75,000 Thailand trip for a family of four — destination chosen, in large part, because the show filmed there.
The phenomenon has a name now: set-jetting. It is not new — Roman Holiday and Murder on the Orient Express sent cinephiles abroad long before streaming existed — but the velocity is different. Social media has compressed the cycle from inspiration to booking to arrival, turning what was once a slow cultural drip into a flood.
The White Lotus, HBO's high-end whodunit, is widely cited as the clearest example. Its previous seasons were set in Maui, Sicily, and Thailand. Season five is currently filming in St.-Tropez and Cannes, with a likely 2027 release. Wherever the cameras land, luxury properties and local tourism boards take notice.
Jessica Eknaian, a Philadelphia-based advisor with the travel agency Fora, says the show 'is definitely a conversation that comes up' with clients. 'It adds a fantasy element to the vacation,' she told Fortune. The appeal is the location and the aesthetic — not, she was careful to note, the show's cast of blithely oblivious wealthy characters.
For destinations, the upside is real but the downside is arriving fast. Croatia's Dubrovnik, where Game of Thrones filmed its King's Landing sequences, became so congested that the government empowered local municipalities to limit cruise and vehicular traffic and restrict alcohol sales. Sicily's Taormina, the backdrop for White Lotus season two, has become a case study in overtourism and price gouging. One luxury property in Croatia's Orebić, Hotel Katarina, has actively distanced itself from the Game of Thrones association. General manager Olga Krizmanić told Fortune: 'Travelers come to us for the Adriatic as it truly is, not the version shaped by global pop culture.'
Jules Perowne, founder of a travel-focused communications firm with offices on three continents, is direct about the dynamic. 'I think this is about the need for Instagram-TikTok hits,' Perowne said. 'I actually think it destroys destinations.'
The mechanism is straightforward: a prestige television production selects a visually stunning, often under-the-radar location. The show airs. Social media amplifies the imagery. Bookings spike. Prices follow. The original character of the place — the thing that made it worth filming in the first place — erodes under the weight of its own popularity.
For the luxury travel market, set-jetting is a genuine demand driver, and the industry would be foolish to ignore it. A $75,000 family trip booked on the strength of a streaming series is real capital moving through real businesses. But the market also sends a longer signal: destinations that manage access, protect their product, and resist the race to the bottom on authenticity will command premium pricing long after the show's finale. Those that let the Instagram crowd trample the very thing they came to photograph will find themselves with a brand problem no amount of production value can fix. Capital rewards clear rules — and in travel, that means supply discipline.
