The ‘White Lotus’ effect: How fabulous TV locations are reshaping luxury travel and infuriating locals
From the Côte d’Azur to the Scottish Highlands, you can now plan a vacation as fabulous as your favorite show.
Without warning, the dapper French gentleman groaned like a bullfrog and collapsed on the Bendor Island boat pier in the South of France. Every season of HBO’s highbrow whodunit The White Lotus begins with a murder. So it somehow felt appropriate that this dockside kerfuffle coincided with the next season of the show being filmed nearby in St.
-Tropez and Cannes, for likely release in 2027. The show’s tragicomic plot, it seemed, had spilled down the coast to this rosé-and-retirees village, Bandol. Thankfully, the man soon sat up, recovered from the episode—but by then I had already conjured elaborate schemes in an alternate narrative universe: a scalpel-tipped parasol!
Arsenic in his afternoon pastis! My boat to the White Lotus–esque island resort Zannier Île de Bendor scooted out of the marina as the crimson flash of ambulances inflamed the blue-and-peach palette of the Côte d’Azur. What character in this story was I playing?
I wondered as the coast shrunk away. A snotty travel journalist with existential thoughts on pillow firmness and robe fabrics? Sounds about right.
Film and TV have a way of rewiring our brains and influencing our habits, and nowhere is that felt more relentlessly than in travel. In recent years, TV shows and movies have changed tourism habits around the world. Paddington went to Peru; families followed aboard Belmond’s luxury train, Andean Explorer.
Emily in Paris put Paris back in the spotlight. Thanks to another HBO juggernaut, Game of Thrones, Croatia’s Dubrovnik—whose walled old city stood in for King’s Landing—was so thronged by fans of the fantasy show that the government enabled local municipalities to limit cruise and vehicular traffic and restrict alcohol sales. And the trend is not limited to package tours and niche fandoms; it’s also transforming the luxury travel sector.
Once, we jet-setted. Now, it appears, we set-jet. This phenomenon of traveling to upscale filming locations did not originate with The White Lotus, but the series,
Đọc thêm từ Kinh doanh
The U.S. and Iran pause attacks on each other for a second straight day while Tehran continues talks with Oman over Hormuz
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Esmail Baghaei, said talks had made progress and continued.
I'm a professional baker and former Trader Joe's employee. I still head back to the store for these 7 products.
As a former Trader Joe's employee, I love heading back to the store for my favorite items, including smoked trout, crushed ginger, and tabbouli salad.
Conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer admits she was ‘bamboozled’ by Russian propaganda and calls podcasters’ misinformation a national security threat
“You don’t need to listen to a podcaster and let them influence your opinion about a country. You can look at those facts yourself.”
What is the risk of using Chinese open AI models like Kimi K3?
The real problem is not overseas open-source but lack of co-ordination to protect infrastructure in the face of cyber attacks