How a Netflix show draws crowds to unknown places

HostI was looking at flights to Sicily last night and I could barely find a seat that didn't cost a fortune. It felt like every person I know was suddenly trying to get to this one specific island at the exact same time. It makes me wonder why a show we watch on our couch on a rainy Tuesday can suddenly turn a quiet town into the busiest spot on earth. What's actually happening in our brains when we see a place on screen that makes us need to go there?

GuestIt's a massive shift in how we choose where to go. For a long time, we looked at travel books or maybe followed what a famous traveler said. Then it was all about those perfect photos on social media. But now, we're seeing this huge move toward what some people call set jetting. It's the idea that a show isn't just a story anymore. It's a five or ten hour travel brochure. When we watch a show, we're not just looking at the trees or the buildings. We're living a life through those characters. By the time the season ends, we have this deep tie to the place. We don't just want to see the town. We want to feel the way we felt when we were watching the show.

HostBut it's still just a screen. I mean, I know the show is fake, and I know those actors aren't actually living there. Why fly halfway around the world just to stand where a fake person stood?

GuestWell, think about the show set in Sicily. When people watched those characters walk through those old stone plazas and sit by those blue waters, they weren't just seeing a map. They were seeing a mood. The travel company Expedia did a big study on this and found that more than half of travelers say they have researched or booked a trip to a place after seeing it in a show or a movie. That's a huge number. It's actually beating out the influence of social media stars for a lot of people. The show gives the place a soul. You feel like you already know the streets. You know where the best views are. It removes the fear of the unknown because you have already been there in your head.

HostSo it's about feeling safe and familiar, then. But does it not take the fun out of it? If I go to a spot because I saw it on Netflix, I'm not really discovering anything. I'm just following a script.

GuestYou could look at it that way, but for most people, it's about the hunt for a specific look and feel. They want to step into the world of the show. There's a term for this called screen tourism, and it's changing the way whole towns work. Look at what happened with a show like Emily in Paris. People didn't just go to Paris. They went to the exact bakery from the show. They waited in long lines just to buy a pastry that looked like the one on the screen. It becomes a game of find and seek. But you're right that it changes the place. When a tiny village that was built for a few hundred people suddenly gets a few thousand people a day because of a show, the magic can break pretty fast.

HostThat sounds like a mess for the people who actually live there. Is it even good for these places to become famous overnight like that?

GuestIt's a double edged sword. On one hand, the money can be life changing. If you own a cafe in a town that no one used to visit, and suddenly there's a line out the door every day, you're going to be happy. But on the other hand, the roads aren't built for it. The trash cans overflow. The quiet life the locals loved just disappears. We saw this in a big way in a small town in Austria called Hallstatt. It was the model for a very famous animated movie, and suddenly it was swamped. They actually had to put up a fence to stop people from taking photos because it was just too much. The gap between the dream on the screen and the reality on the ground is where the friction happens.

HostIt feels like we're chasing a ghost. We see this perfect, sun lit version of a place with no crowds and great music, but when we get there, we're just one of a thousand people holding a phone.

GuestThat's the big risk. You're looking for a feeling that might not actually exist without the camera crew and the lights. And yet, the data shows we're not slowing down. Booking dots com found that a huge chunk of people want to go to spots they saw on screen just to feel like a character for a day. Whether it's a dark forest in a sci-fi show or a royal palace in a drama, we want to be part of the story. Even if it means waiting in line, people feel like they're winning a prize by being there. The next big wave is likely going to hit Thailand because of where the next big resort show is filming. Those hotels are already seeing a spike in interest before the show is even out.

HostThe story we tell about a place seems to matter much more than the place itself.

GuestThe most powerful thing a show can do is take a spot we never thought about and turn it into a place we can't stop thinking about.

HostThat tiny street in London I found last night is probably already full of people looking for that one blue door.