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Koh Samui braces for the White Lotus Effect · The Front

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  Speaker 1: From the Australian. Here's what's on the front. I'm Claire Harvey.
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  Speaker 1: It's Thursday, February twenty Australia's ability to produce steel. That's
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: what's at stake in the South Australian government's decision to
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: force a huge steel works at Wyala into administration. That's
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  Speaker 1: the claim from Premier piomal Anauskus. That story, plus all
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: the implications and the fallout, is live now at the
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  Speaker 1: Australian dot com. Dou Death plus Paradise equals tourist Bonanza.
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  Speaker 1: That's the formula of the glittering HBO global blockbuster The Whiteloaders,
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  Speaker 1: which has already transformed the economies of Sicily and Hawaii
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  Speaker 1: and is now zeroing in on Thailand. Today we explore
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  Speaker 1: a cultural phenomenon with huge economic implications and meet a
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  Speaker 1: generation of travelers unashamedly embracing a new kind of luxury.
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  Speaker 1: What happens and Thailand.
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  Speaker 2: Stays and Thailand.
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  Speaker 1: One of our regulars was just asking me about you.
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  Speaker 2: Really, he has a lovely girlfriend, but he seems interested
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  Speaker 2: in you.
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  Speaker 1: I think we call it plas we are not calling
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  Speaker 1: the police. The White Lotus is back, featuring a murder,
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  Speaker 1: a luxury resort and some Knochio's socks off scenery. That
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  Speaker 1: means the setting, the Thai island of Kosamui is about
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  Speaker 1: to become the world's hottest destination. We know this because
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  Speaker 1: it's already happened to Sicily and Hawaii. The settings for
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  Speaker 1: season one and two Boha, Happy to be here, run
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  Speaker 1: our honeymoon is such valued guests.
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  Speaker 2: Welcome to the White Lotus.
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  Speaker 1: Whenever I stay at a White Lotus, I always have
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  Speaker 1: a memorable time. Lois Welcome to the White Lotus.
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  Speaker 2: In Cecily, The White.
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  Speaker 1: Lotus is filmed in a four seasons hotel and it
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  Speaker 1: has been great for business. There was a four hundred
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  Speaker 1: and twenty five percent optic in website visits to their
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  Speaker 1: Maui resort after the first season aired, and the same
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  Speaker 1: thing happened again in Sicily after season two. The San
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  Speaker 1: Domenico Palace was booked up for six months when it
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  Speaker 1: reopened after filming, and the effect spread well beyond the
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  Speaker 1: original resorts.
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  Speaker 2: They call it set jetting.
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  Speaker 3: It's where people really want to relive their experiences of
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  Speaker 3: watching TV, their favorite shows, their favorite characters, and seeing
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  Speaker 3: it in real life.
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  Speaker 1: The White Lotus is not the first piece of silver
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  Speaker 1: screen magic to attract real life audiences. The Beach with
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  Speaker 1: Leonardo DiCaprio in the year two thousand, so much here
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  Speaker 1: to inspires we're not going to jump, we get jam
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  Speaker 1: sent millionians of travelers to copp In Thailand for its
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  Speaker 1: azure waters and ivory beaches. Yes, yes, the deli from
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  Speaker 1: Harry met Sally, I'll have what she's having, the cupcake
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  Speaker 1: shop in Sex and the City I.
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  Speaker 2: Have a crush. Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: But the age of streaming has taken this to a
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  Speaker 1: whole new level. Just ask the residents of Paris, who
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  Speaker 1: are now seeing new hordes of gen Z travelers discovering
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  Speaker 1: its charming squares and cobbled streets thanks to Netflix's ultra poised,
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  Speaker 1: dressed up take on the American abroad in Emily in Paris.
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  Speaker 2: Oh my god. If you're like Nicole Kidman and La Roche,
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  Speaker 2: you've got all of Paris fet.
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  Speaker 1: So, given the travel inspired by cinematic fantasy is not new,
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  Speaker 1: what's different about the way it's happening now?
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  Speaker 2: I think that's a couple of things. One.
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  Speaker 3: I think it's the power of streaming services. Everyone is
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  Speaker 3: watching the same show at the same time around the world,
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  Speaker 3: which never really happened before. And then there's also social media,
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  Speaker 3: so people talk about what they've watched and then kind
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  Speaker 3: of exchange memes and ideas and whatever.
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  Speaker 2: It all takes off culturally.
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  Speaker 3: And also the White Lotus came out during lockdown, so
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  Speaker 3: I think people were really enamored with just getting somewhere
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  Speaker 3: else that was not their laund room. And it was
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  Speaker 3: at the same time as Emily in Paris and Bridgington,
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  Speaker 3: so Bridgington was a bit obviously staged, but it's the
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  Speaker 3: same principle, and I just think people really love going
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  Speaker 3: to see where their favorite characters have been.
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  Speaker 1: Milanderraut is the Australian's Deputy editor of Travel and Luxury,
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  Speaker 1: and part of it is a generation who were very
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  Speaker 1: keen to spend some time in an ultra luxury hotel,
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  Speaker 1: wearing an amazing wardrobe and sipping cocktails by the pool,
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  Speaker 1: Whereas in Mayan Milander's generation exploring the world in the
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  Speaker 1: early two thousands, it was all about trying to be
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  Speaker 1: as authentic and low fire as possible. I mean, we
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  Speaker 1: were unbear staying in stinking backpacker hostels in the most
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  Speaker 1: grungey destinations we could find because we were showing off
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  Speaker 1: to each other about how cool we were.
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  Speaker 3: They want to properly live out the full television experience.
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  Speaker 3: They don't want to just walk past the hotel or
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  Speaker 3: even take a picture out the front of the hotel.
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  Speaker 3: They want to stay there. And I think, again, it's
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  Speaker 3: back to social media and people seeing things that they
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  Speaker 3: never would have normally seen before. And I guess people
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  Speaker 3: just deciding that they really want to save their money
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  Speaker 3: and go somewhere, maybe for a short period of time,
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  Speaker 3: but you know, really go somewhere really.
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  Speaker 1: Nice coming up. Apart from the White Lotus character who
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  Speaker 1: inevitably dies each season, what's the downside of this avalanche
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  Speaker 1: of aspiration that's after the break? Every season of The
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  Speaker 1: White Lotus somebody dies an awful death in that usually
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  Speaker 1: happens in the first few minutes. But there's also a
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  Speaker 1: potential downside for these destinations. Can you talk to me
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  Speaker 1: a little bit about that and how they balance the
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  Speaker 1: excitement of being in a global phenomenon like this with
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  Speaker 1: the reality of what it's actually going to be like.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, it's interesting you should say that I've been getting
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  Speaker 3: press releases from the hotels that are featured in The
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  Speaker 3: White Lotus for months now. Since it was kind of
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  Speaker 3: leaked or announced last year that these hotels would be
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  Speaker 3: part of it. They are really making a big deal
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  Speaker 3: of it, so they're very much embracing it.
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  Speaker 1: One of the themes of The White Lotus is the
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  Speaker 1: disparity between the real lives of the people who work
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  Speaker 1: in these resorts and the curated reality they provide for
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  Speaker 1: their guests. You know, it's quite gritty too, isn't it.
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  Speaker 1: The poverty of the staff in their actual lives juxtaposed
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  Speaker 1: with the extreme wealth of the guests. How do you
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  Speaker 1: think luxury is nowadays? Are thinking about that where maybe
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  Speaker 1: once they were just racked with guilt.
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  Speaker 2: I don't know whether they, but I think it's extraordinary.
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  Speaker 3: These shows don't portray these guests in a particularly positive light.
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  Speaker 2: You don't like any of them, but obviously.
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  Speaker 3: We want their lives and the life cells they're living,
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  Speaker 3: and we want to visit the places they're going to.
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  Speaker 1: What do you think is ahead for Kosamui and how
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  Speaker 1: do they manage the kind of volume of tourists who
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  Speaker 1: they're going to get.
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  Speaker 3: It's definitely something that they have seen before Thailand because
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  Speaker 3: they had a huge problem with this after Leonardo DiCaprio's
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  Speaker 3: movie The Beach, and they actually had to close Maya
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  Speaker 3: Bay for a number of years thanks to over tourism.
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  Speaker 3: And I remember the before and after pictures of the
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  Speaker 3: before this beautiful, pristine water and stunning surroundings, and then
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  Speaker 3: afterwards rubbish and boats everywhere. So I suppose the question
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  Speaker 3: is how is Thailand now prepared to manage it and
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  Speaker 3: the influx of tourists and the costs and benefits of that.
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  Speaker 3: I'm not exactly sure. It'll be interesting to see what happens. Yeah,
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  Speaker 3: do you think it's overall a good thing? Should Australia
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  Speaker 3: be campaigning to be in The White Loadus?
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  Speaker 2: Oh? Absolutely, I think that.
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  Speaker 3: I can imagine every country in the world is campaigning
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  Speaker 3: to be in The White Lotus.
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  Speaker 2: In fact, they probably did with the last series.
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  Speaker 3: And tourism campaigns are now built around filming locations. Governments
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  Speaker 3: are now helping fund productions they can film in their locations.
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  Speaker 3: They make such a big impact on people when they
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  Speaker 3: have such a reach in terms of culture, whether it
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  Speaker 3: be like the White Lotus or even like the Bear
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  Speaker 3: in Chicago.
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  Speaker 2: People are visiting there now.
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  Speaker 3: To experience the restaurants and the cafes and just be
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  Speaker 3: on the streets where their characters were.
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  Speaker 1: The land About is The Australian's Deputy editor of Travel
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: and Luxury. That's every Saturday in the Weekend Australian and
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  Speaker 1: it's live all the time at the Australian dot com
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  Speaker 1: dot u slash Travel