'Set-jetting' turning fiction into real, and often expensive, vacations

Have you found yourself dabbling with the idea of spending your next vacation at White Lotus, a luxury resort famous for its obnoxious guests and regular murders? Welcome to the world of "set-jetting," in which settings of popular movies and TVs shows like "The White Lotus" become pilgrimage sites for fans.The White Lotus resorts are, of course, fictional. But the properties where the HBO series films are real. And after seasons 1 and 2, set in Maui and Sicily, travellers flocked to those properties, and both reported a tenfold rise in bookings, said Marc Speichert, executive V-P and chief commercial officer of Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts. The company was not able to share booking numbers for its resort in Thailand, where the latest season was set.The term set-jetting - a play on "jet set" - appears to date to a 2007 New York Post article describing the allure of trips inspired by films like "The Queen" (Brocket Hall, near London) and "Pan's Labyrinth" (the Segovia region of Spain).The concept goes back to at least the 1960s, said Daniel L Spears, an associate professor of hospitality and tourism, who has studied the trend. After the 1965 blockbuster "The Sound of Music", tourism to Austria surged, particularly to Mirabell Garden in Salzburg, setting for the song "Do-Re-Mi". Set-jetting picked up steam in the early 2000s, when "Lord of the Rings" franchise began to draw large numbers of Shire- and Rivendell-obsessed tourists to New Zealand, and "Game of Thrones" did the same for Iceland and Croatia.Since then, the options have exploded.One of the biggest players in the field, the luxury travel company Black Tomato, offers an array of set-jetting vacations, including adventures that'll make you feel you're in a "Yellowstone" episode, with horseback riding and a fireside dinner with cowboys. If you fancy a tuxedo and a stiff (and shaken) martini, its menu of James Bond-themed trips is vast, including a training session with a stunt coordinator from the five latest 007 films.Black Tomato's clients typically pay $10,000 to $20,000 per person for a 10-day trip, said a company official. It's a long way mentally from the once-idyllic Coco Palms Resort of "Blue Hawaii" to the unsettling plot lines of "The White Lotus". Why are so many people travelling to places that are not exactly the stuff of ukulele solos and flower leis? It might be the immersive nature of streaming establishes a deep bond with the characters and the place, giving fans a "sense of nostalgia," Spears said. "There's a dark turn, but there's also emotional connection."