Wednesday was shot in Bucharest, Romania. — AFP
Out on Netflix for just a few weeks, new series Wednesday, centred around the “Addams Family” daughter, has already turned viewers’ lives upside down. With online travel agency Expedia seeing an uptick in TV tourism, will the filming location of the Tim Burton series be the latest to benefit?
TV shows are having a genuine impact on our lives. From our wardrobes to our musical tastes, shows like Stranger Things and Bridgerton have been influencing our consumer choices. It’s a phenomenon being seen once more with Wednesday; the series is giving some fans ideas for their next vacations.
The French site of travel agency Expedia revealed a 55% (based on interest in hotels in Bucharest on Expedia.fr from Nov 8 to 22 versus Nov 23 to Dec 6) increase in searches for hotels in Bucharest, Romania, where the series was shot in 2021. The increase was observed in the first two weeks before and after the launch of the series, compared to the four weeks prior to this period, the company explained.
While the capital of Romania enjoyed a surge in popularity thanks to the show, the Romanian countryside also got a bump in interest among those looking at vacation destinations, with a peak recorded at 15% on the same site.
Meanwhile, in the latest Expedia Group report on travel trends for 2023, TV tourism is expected to emerge as one of the top trends in the coming year. According to the results, streaming movies and series have become a key source of destination inspiration for travellers, surpassing the influence of social networks. Some 66% of travellers around the world have thought about travelling to a destination seen in a movie or TV show, while 39% of travellers have actually booked such a vacation, with the trend even more pronounced in the United States where the figures are 68% and 61% respectively.
It’s a similar situation in Canada, where 60% of travellers considered travelling to a site after seeing it featured in a series or a movie, but only 27% of Canadian respondents made such a reservation.
Before Romanian tourism got a boost from Wednesday, Britain, the US, Iceland and even New Zealand were among the streaming destinations made popular through series such as Inventing Anna on Netflix, House Of The Dragon on HBO and The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power on Prime Video.
The travel trends study was conducted on behalf of Expedia brands (Expedia, Hotels.com, Vrbo & Wotif) by OnePoll, an international polling company. The survey was conducted online between Sept 22 and Oct 14 in the US, South America, Europe and Asia. It was conducted among 24,000 people in 17 countries, including adults who have planned a domestic or international trip in the next 36 months. – AFP Relaxnews
