Vacation like 'White Lotus,' 'Emily in Paris': TV and movies are inspiring 2023 travel

Travel desire continues to stay strong but 2023 is proving to be the year where TV shows and movies are inspiring vacations.

According to American Express Travel's 2023 Global Travel Trends Report, with an Amex Trendex online poll conducted by Morning Consult between Feb. 3 and Feb. 11 (sample of 1,000 travellers in Australia, Canada, India, Japan, Mexico, UK, and 2,000 travellers in the U.S.), 48 per cent of Canadians indicated that seeing a city on a TV show inspires them to visit that location.

The top locations for Canadian travellers are Paris, which saw a record numbers of productions last year, 102 movies and 68 TV shows, including John Wick: Chapter 4 and Netflix's Emily in Paris. Sicily is also a popular destination, linked to HBO's The White Lotus.

A total of 53 per cent of Canadian respondents actually watch TV shows and movies to determine what to do when they visit certain cities. Additionally, 44 per cent go to a specific store or restaurant because they were featured in a show or film.

This trend is particularly significant for younger travellers. A total of 70 per cent of Gen-Z and Millennial respondents have been inspired to visit a location after seeing it featured in a TV show, news source or movie.

The concept of entertainment inspiring this wanderlust has been an increasingly popular trend in a number of different reports.

According to Expedia's 2023 Travel Trends Report, with a survey conducted online with OnePoll from Sept. 22 to Oct. 14, 2022 with 24,000 respondents across 17 countries, 39 per cent of global travellers have actually booked a trip because the location was featured in a TV show or movie they streamed at home.

For Canadian respondents, 60 per cent said that they’ve considered visiting a location due to shows or films.

Expedia also reported that The White Lotus Season 2 recently drove an 171 per cent increase in flight searches to Sicily.

Travel inspiration for TV, movies

'Emily in Paris' itinerary

Emily in Paris quickly became one of the most popular shows on Netflix. After the first season premiered back in 2020, Expedia saw a 25 per cent increase in searches for Paris travel in the first two weeks, growing another 155 per cent from Season 1 to Season 2, and the interest continues.

These are some spots to hit if you want your own Emily in Paris vacation experience:

• Take a stroll along Pont Alexandre III, one of the most ornate bridges in Paris and the location where Savoir filmed the perfume commercial for Antoine.

• Experience a Bateaux Mouches Seine river cruise, inspired by the party Emily held on one of the boats in Season 2. Book a dinner cruise for a romantic French meal.

• Café de Flore is iconic, one of the oldest coffeehouses in the city. Touristy, but a great place to people watch on the outdoor patio on Boulevard Saint-Germain, and the location where Emily meets the professor in Season 1.

• You can't have an Emily in Paris-inspired trip without visiting the place where Emily and Mindy first met, and that's Jardin du Palais Royal. Just steps away from the Louvre, it's a great resting spot in the centre of the city, in addition to being close to the fictional Savoir HQ at Place de Valois.

• In Season 3, Mindy and Emily meet Nicolas at the pool at Hotel Molitor, where they dance to the remix of Mindy's song "Mon Soleil." Book a stay at the hotel or pay for day use of its full spa facilities.

'The White Lotus' itinerary

Season 2 of the popular HBO show The White Lotus was filmed in Taormina, Sicily, near Mount Etna.

If you're planning a summer Italian getaway, inspired by the show, that is what you should experience:

• Much of The White Lotus Season 2 is filmed at the San Domenico Palace, a Four Seasons Hotel. Getting a reservation has been incredibly difficult since the premiere of the season, but if you can get a booking, it makes for the ultimate White Lotus experience.

• Teatro Antico di Taormina is one of the most iconic landmarks in the area, constructed by the Greeks in third century BC for music and theatrical productions, but converted for games and gladiatorial battles in Roman times.

• Castello degli Schiavi was made famous from The Godfather as Michael Corleone’s place of refuge, but it's also where the Di Grasso men, along with Portia, visit in The White Lotus. Visitors are able to take a tour of the property.

• The beach scenes in The White Lotus Season 2 were actually filmed at Cefalù Beach, in a northern Sicilian coastal city, with ancient temples and rocky cliffs. The drive is a little more than 200 km away from Taormina.

'The Last of Us' itinerary

More recently, The Last of Us quickly became an incredibly popular series for HBO, filmed in Alberta.

HBO has since confirmed that Season 2 of the series will be filmed in B.C. instead, but in order to explore Canada The Last of Us-style (before Season 2), these are the places you need to go:

• The Boston QZ in The Last of Us is actually filmed in a number of Calgary neighbourhoods, specifically 17 Avenue, also known as the Red Mile, and Inglewood.

• Canmore was transformed into Jackson, Wyoming for The Last of Us. Joel and Ellie are shown travelling over the Canmore Engine Bridge, with the Rocky Mountains in the background.

• The Bill and Frank episode of The Last of Us was one of the most emotional moments in TV history. Bill’s doorstep was located at the former Beachwood Estates area of High River, a neighbourhood that was evacuated after a 2013 flood. The area has since been repurposed to its natural state, and visitors can enjoy the town just 30 minutes south of Calgary.

• When Joel and Ellie meet up with Tommy in Episode 6, the brothers share a drink at the saloon at the Wainwright Hotel. The hotel replica is in Heritage Park Historical Village.

'Titanic' itinerary

Back in February, the world celebrated the 25th anniversary of the release of James Cameron's film Titanic.

If you're longing to explore a piece of the story, consider visiting these locations:

• Experience the SS Jeremiah O’Brien ship, now a living museum in San Francisco, California, where the famous engine room scene took place.

• The Maritime Museum of the Atlantic in Halifax is home to the exhibition titled "Titanic: The Unsinkable Ship and Halifax," where visitors can sit on replica deck chairs and look at rare artifacts recovered from the wreck. Cameron visited the museum himself while shooting the film.

• Until May 7, Titanic fans can experience the "Challenging the Deep" exhibit at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences in Raleigh, North Carolina. It includes a collection of costumes and movie props, including Jack’s sketches and the "Heart of the Ocean" necklace, and traces Cameron’s passion for deep-ocean exploration.

• Travel to Belfast to see the shipyard where the Titanic was built and the slipway where the ship was launched, and explore the last remaining White Star Line ship in the world, the SS Nomadic.

• Pigeon Forge, Tennessee is home to the Titanic Museum, where visitors can sit in a replica lifeboat, experience what it was like to walk the Grand Staircase, view a third-class cabin, and take the wheel on the Captain’s Bridge.