Thailand Is Having A ‘White Lotus’ Travel Moment—Even Before Season 3 Kicks Off Sunday – Forbes
With Season 3 of HBO’s “The White Lotus” launching Sunday night, Thailand is already seeing a double-digit boost in travel demand from American fans of the show.Thailand is expecting a big tourism boom thanks to the launch of “White Lotus” Season 3.“The White Lotus” Season 3 premiers Sunday, Feb. 16 and features shooting locations across Thailand, including Koh Samui, Chiang Mai and Phuket, according to Warner Bros.After Thailand was announced as the setting of Season 3 last spring, searches for flights increased for Chiang Mai (up 65% year over year), Phuket (up 45%) and Koh Samui (up 30%), according to data from Expedia.Following HBO’s teaser release in mid-December 2024, searches for Koh Samui jumped by 40% on Hotels.com.The home-rental platform Vrbo has seen a 115% uptick in searches year-over-year for vacation rentals in Koh Samui.The InterContinental Phuket Resort’s sales director, Anahat Arora, told Forbes he expects “a surge in interest” for luxury travel to Thailand, noting an 18% increase in bookings from the U.S. market.Set-jetting—choosing a destination because a film or TV show is set there—has been a growing travel trend for years. Last fall, an Expedia Brands survey of 20,000 respondents across 14 countries found that TV shows are more influential for inspiring travel than Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok.If past is prologue, expect a significant spike in travel demand—and perhaps prices—for travel in Thailand. In the 90 days following the launches of the show’s first two seasons, set in Hawaii and Sicily, respectively, Expedia saw searches for those destinations explode by more than 300% due to the “White Lotus” effect. Another big winner looks to be Four Seasons Resorts, which formalized a partnership with HBO in October, ensuring Four Seasons hotels will continue to be the primary backdrop for future seasons of “The White Lotus.” The third season was mainly filmed at Four Seasons Resort Koh Samui, while the previous two seasons were shot at Four Seasons Resort Maui at Wailea in Hawaii and San Domenico Palace, a Four Seasons hotel in Sicily.The travel industry is expecting Thailand to have a huge year. American Express Travel identified Koh Samui as one of the top 10 trending destinations for 2025, and the island was also listed as of the New York Times 52 Places to Go in 2025. In addition, Thailand was Travel+Leisure’s 2025 destination of the year.‘White Lotus’ Season 3: Sumptuous Locations, Deadly Possibilities (Forbes)One Community. Many Voices. Create a free account to share your thoughts. Our community is about connecting people through open and thoughtful conversations. We want our readers to share their views and exchange ideas and facts in a safe space.In order to do so, please follow the posting rules in our site’s Terms of Service. We’ve summarized some of those key rules below. Simply put, keep it civil.Your post will be rejected if we notice that it seems to contain:User accounts will be blocked if we notice or believe that users are engaged in:So, how can you be a power user?Thanks for reading our community guidelines. Please read the full list of posting rules found in our site’s Terms of Service.
