When Christopher Nolan started scouting locations across the Peloponnese peninsula in early 2025 for his $250 million adaptation of The Odyssey, local hotel bookings for the region jumped 34% before a single frame of the film had been shot. Taverna owners in Pylos and Methoni watched crews transform their villages into ancient Greek battlegrounds, while Airbnb hosts across Messenia quietly doubled their rates for summer 2026. The movie, starring Matt Damon and Anne Hathaway, doesn’t even hit theaters until July, but the travel demand is already here. That pattern tells you everything about how set-jetting works in 2026: the trip gets booked before the credits roll.
Set-jetting is the practice of traveling to real-world locations featured in movies and TV shows, and it has grown into a projected $8 billion industry in the U.S. alone, with the global screen tourism market expected to reach $71.4 billion in 2026.
Last updated: March 2026
Key Takeaways
- 81% of Gen Z and Millennial travelers say film and TV content directly influences where they travel, according to Expedia’s 2026 study of 24,000 respondents across 18 countries.
- The global screen tourism market is projected to reach $71.4 billion in 2026, up from $66 billion in 2025, with long-term forecasts placing it at $145 billion by 2035.
- Yorkshire, UK tops Expedia’s 2026 set-jetting forecast thanks to both the Wuthering Heights remake (starring Margot Robbie) and the final Downton Abbey film.
- Overtourism remains a real risk: Dubrovnik now sees 27 tourists per resident at peak season and has capped cruise ships at two per day starting in 2026.
- 53% of global travelers report increased interest in screen-inspired getaways, with 40% saying they want to feel like the “main character” of the film they watched.
What is set-jetting?
Set-jetting is traveling to destinations you discovered through movies, TV shows, or streaming content. The term was first identified as a travel trend by Expedia in 2022 (alongside trends like race-cations), but it has exploded since then. Where previous generations might have torn a page from a travel magazine, today’s travelers screenshot a scene from Netflix and book a flight the same evening.
The 2026 version is different from old-school film tourism. Inspiration now starts on TikTok, Instagram, or a streaming platform, gets amplified by algorithms, and converts into a booked trip within hours. Expedia’s research found that 72% of set-jetters describe the experience as “unique,” and 40% say they’re chasing the feeling of being the main character of the story they watched.
The economics back it up. The screen tourism sector hit $66 billion globally in 2025. Projections for 2026 put it at $71.4 billion, and long-range forecasts suggest $145 billion by 2035. This is not a TikTok fad. It is a structural shift in how people decide where to go.
Where are the best set-jetting destinations for 2026?
The best set-jetting destinations for 2026 are tied to specific films and shows releasing this year. Unlike a generic “best beaches” list, these destinations have a built-in demand spike from millions of viewers who will watch a movie and immediately start Googling flights. Here are the destinations with the strongest film connections and the most realistic travel plans.
Yorkshire, UK: Wuthering Heights and Downton Abbey
Yorkshire lands the top spot on Expedia’s 2026 forecast for a reason: two massive productions filmed there. Emerald Fennell’s Wuthering Heights adaptation stars Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi, bringing the brooding moors of the Yorkshire Dales to a global audience. The final Downton Abbey film also wraps up its story in the region. For travelers, Yorkshire offers Haworth (the Bronte Parsonage Museum), the Yorkshire Dales National Park, and Highclere Castle (the real Downton Abbey, about 4 hours south in Hampshire). Flights from New York to Manchester run $400-$600 round trip in shoulder season, and a week of B&Bs in the Dales averages $120-$180 per night.
Peloponnese, Greece: Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey
Nolan shot key scenes for The Odyssey across the Messenia region of the Peloponnese, including Pylos, Methoni Castle, and the Voidokilia beach (used for the Cyclops Polyphemus scenes). Additional filming happened at Acrocorinth near Corinth. The film, releasing July 17, 2026, is Nolan’s most expensive production at $250 million and his first shot entirely on IMAX 70mm. For travelers, the Peloponnese is less crowded than the Greek islands and significantly cheaper. Coastal hotels in Pylos start around $90/night in May. Athens to the Peloponnese is a 3-hour drive or a short domestic flight to Kalamata.
Tuscany, Italy: Jay Kelly
The romantic thriller Jay Kelly filmed among the vineyards and hill towns of Tuscany, a region that has been a cinematic backdrop for decades. What makes 2026 different is the star power attached: the film is generating significant pre-release buzz. Tuscany’s appeal for set-jetters goes beyond the single production. You can pair the Jay Kelly locations with visits to Gladiator filming sites in Val d’Orcia and the Arezzo piazza from Life Is Beautiful. Agriturismo stays (farm B&Bs) in the Chianti region average $100-$150/night, and the best time to visit is May or September, before peak summer pricing kicks in.
Croatia: Romance on the Dalmatian Coast
Croatia appears on the 2026 set-jetting map thanks to The Last Resort, a romantic comedy set along the Dalmatian Coast. But Croatia already has set-jetting infrastructure from its years as a Game of Thrones filming location. Dubrovnik’s old town doubled as King’s Landing, and fans still walk the same ramparts. (If Peaky Blinders is more your speed, Birmingham’s Digbeth district and the Black Country Living Museum are other strong UK set-jetting options.) Split and Hvar offer cheaper alternatives with their own film connections. Be aware that Dubrovnik now caps cruise ships at two per day and requires advance booking for city wall access. Shoulder season (May, October) is the move.
Hawaii and Samoa: Moana (Live-Action)
Disney’s live-action Moana, scheduled for 2026, was filmed largely in Hawaii and will drive a wave of set-jetting to Polynesian destinations. Hawaii is already a top tourist destination, but the film is expected to boost interest specifically in Oahu’s North Shore and Kauai’s Na Pali Coast, both used as filming locations. Samoa, the cultural inspiration for Moana’s storyline, stands to benefit even more. Tourism boards in both American Samoa and independent Samoa have been preparing for a post-Moana visitor surge. Flights from Los Angeles to Apia, Samoa start around $800 round trip.
Surrey and Portsmouth, England: Project Hail Mary
The #1 movie in America was filmed entirely in England. Ryan Gosling’s Project Hail Mary used Shepperton Studios in Surrey for the spaceship interiors (built as full-scale sets with almost no green screen), South Parade Pier in Portsmouth for Earth flashback scenes, and the Mullard Radio Astronomy Observatory near Cambridge for the film’s science installations. For travelers already heading to London, these locations are easy day trips. If you’re a fan of the movie, you’ll also want to read our breakdown of the Project Hail Mary ending and the book vs. movie differences. Shepperton is 30 minutes from central London. Portsmouth is 90 minutes by train, and Cambridge is an hour.
Does watching a movie actually make people want to visit?
Yes, and the data is overwhelming. Expedia’s 2026 study surveyed 24,000 adults across 18 countries and found that 81% of Gen Z and Millennial travelers say screen content directly influences their travel decisions. That number is not self-reported aspiration; it correlates with booking data.
When The White Lotus Season 1 aired on HBO in 2021, the Four Seasons Maui (where it was filmed) saw a 386% increase in page views on travel booking sites within a week. Tourism boards have caught on. VisitBritain created a dedicated “Film and TV map” of the UK. Tourism New Zealand still markets Hobbiton tours more than two decades after The Lord of the Rings. The small town of Matamata, population 8,000, now receives over 600,000 visitors per year because of a film set.
The pattern is consistent: a hit show or film can increase tourism to a specific location by 30-50% in the year following release. For destinations that actively market the connection, those numbers can be higher and more sustained.
The dark side of set-jetting: when fans overwhelm the destination
Dubrovnik is the cautionary tale. After Game of Thrones turned the Croatian city into a global icon, visitor numbers swelled to 6.5 million per year in a city of just 40,000 residents. At peak season, Dubrovnik had 27 tourists for every local. Rents spiked. Locals left. The city was ranked the most overcrowded in the world.
In 2026, Dubrovnik is fighting back with aggressive overtourism measures: mandatory advance booking for the city walls, a two-cruise-ship-per-day limit with a minimum stay of eight hours, and a government program buying up apartments to return them to locals at affordable rents.
Hallstatt, Austria (the rumored inspiration for Frozen’s Arendelle) tells a similar story. The village of 750 people received over a million visitors in peak years, forcing local authorities to install barriers and restrict tour bus access.
For set-jetters, the lesson is practical: go in shoulder season, stay multiple nights instead of day-tripping, spend money at local businesses instead of chain restaurants, and consider whether the destination can actually handle you. The best set-jetting trips support the local economy. The worst ones destroy it.
How to plan a set-jetting trip without overpaying
Timing matters more than anything. Film tourism demand spikes in the 2-4 weeks after a movie’s theatrical release, then again when it hits streaming platforms 45-90 days later. If you book before the general public catches on (during production buzz, before release), you get pre-hype pricing. If you wait 6 months after the streaming release, demand normalizes.
Use the film’s production timeline as your research tool. Studio press releases announce filming locations months before a movie opens. When Nolan announced Greek filming locations for The Odyssey in early 2025, savvy travelers booked Pylos hotels at 2024 pricing. Those same rooms will cost 40-60% more by August 2026.
Dedicated set-jetting tour operators are worth considering for complex itineraries. Companies like British Tours offer Game of Thrones and Downton Abbey routes with local guides who know exact filming spots. For independent travelers, fan communities on Reddit and film tourism Facebook groups maintain crowd-sourced location guides that are often more accurate than official sources.
What movies are driving travel in 2026?
The biggest films expected to drive set-jetting in 2026, ranked by anticipated tourism impact:
Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey (July 17) will have the largest impact. A $250 million IMAX production filmed across Greece, Morocco, Italy, Scotland, Iceland, and Malta, with an all-star cast including Matt Damon, Anne Hathaway, Tom Holland, and Zendaya. Greece’s Peloponnese region is the primary beneficiary.
Wuthering Heights from director Emerald Fennell, starring Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi, will put the Yorkshire moors on every Instagram feed. The film’s moody, atmospheric marketing is already generating travel interest in Northern England.
Project Hail Mary is the #1 movie in America right now, earning $163 million domestic in its first two weeks. While the film is set in space, its Earth scenes were filmed in Surrey, Portsmouth, and Cambridge, creating accessible day-trip opportunities for London-based travelers.
Moana (Live-Action) will push Polynesian destinations into the mainstream. Hawaii will absorb most of the demand, but Samoa’s tourism board is positioning the country as the authentic cultural alternative.
The final Downton Abbey film wraps up the franchise that single-handedly turned Highclere Castle into a tourist attraction generating over $2 million per year in visitor revenue. Expect a farewell tourism spike.
Beyond individual films, Expedia’s research shows that streaming platforms are now the primary discovery channel. 53% of global travelers say their interest in visiting a destination increased after watching it on screen. The Philippines (People We Meet on Vacation), Morocco (The Odyssey, Gladiator II afterglow), and Scotland (The Odyssey’s additional filming locations) are all secondary beneficiaries.
Set-jetting travel tips that actually save money
Book during the production window, not the release window. Studio announcements of filming locations come 12-18 months before a movie opens. That is your cheapest booking window.
Fly to secondary airports. Travelers heading to Yorkshire can fly into Manchester or Leeds-Bradford instead of London Heathrow and save $200-$400 per ticket. For Greece, fly to Kalamata instead of Athens.
Stay three nights minimum. One-night set-jetting tourists are the ones who contribute to overtourism without contributing to the local economy. Extended stays mean you explore beyond the filming spots and find the restaurants and shops that don’t appear in the movie.
Check fan-made location guides before official ones. Reddit’s r/travel and dedicated film subreddits maintain precise GPS coordinates, opening hours, and access restrictions for filming locations. Official tourism boards sometimes lag behind on updates.
Travel with a purpose beyond the selfie. The destinations on this list are real places with their own histories. The Peloponnese has 3,000 years of history that predates Nolan’s cameras. Yorkshire’s moors were literary landmarks before they were film sets. Founders who travel with intention get more from every trip, and these destinations reward curiosity. If film-inspired travel isn’t your thing, the coolcation trend or whycation movement might be a better fit.
Set-jetting in 2026 is a $71.4 billion global trend backed by real booking data and generational shifts in how people discover travel destinations. The films listed here will put specific locations on the map for millions of new visitors. The travelers who plan ahead, respect local communities, and go beyond the obvious filming spots will have the best experiences, and they’ll spend less doing it.
Frequently asked questions
▾ What is set-jetting?
Set-jetting is the practice of traveling to real-world locations featured in movies and TV shows. First identified as a travel trend by Expedia in 2022, the practice has grown into a projected $8 billion industry in the U.S. alone, with 81% of Gen Z and Millennial travelers saying screen content influences where they travel.
▾ What are the best set-jetting destinations for 2026?
The top set-jetting destinations for 2026 include Yorkshire, UK (Wuthering Heights, Downton Abbey), Peloponnese, Greece (Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey), Tuscany, Italy (Jay Kelly), the Dalmatian Coast, Croatia (The Last Resort), and Hawaii/Samoa (live-action Moana). Yorkshire tops Expedia’s official forecast.
▾ Does watching movies influence where people travel?
Yes. Expedia’s 2026 study of 24,000 adults across 18 countries found that 81% of Gen Z and Millennial travelers say film and TV influences their travel decisions. When The White Lotus Season 1 aired, the Four Seasons Maui saw a 386% increase in page views on booking sites within a week.
▾ How much does a set-jetting trip cost?
A one-week set-jetting trip from the U.S. ranges from $1,800 to $4,000 depending on destination. Croatia and Greece’s Peloponnese are the most affordable options ($1,800-$3,000), while Hawaii and Samoa are the most expensive ($2,500-$4,000). Booking during the production window rather than the release window can save 40-60% on accommodations.
▾ Where was Project Hail Mary filmed?
Project Hail Mary was filmed entirely in England. Shepperton Studios in Surrey housed full-scale spaceship sets, South Parade Pier in Portsmouth was used for Earth flashback scenes, and the Mullard Radio Astronomy Observatory near Cambridge served as a filming location for science installations. All three are accessible as day trips from London.
▾ Is set-jetting bad for local communities?
It depends on how tourists behave. Dubrovnik experienced severe overtourism after Game of Thrones, with 6.5 million visitors per year overwhelming a city of 40,000. In 2026, the city capped cruise ships at two per day. Responsible set-jetting means visiting in shoulder season, staying multiple nights, and supporting local businesses beyond the filming spots.
