Many event planners will agree that last year’s hottest incentive travel trend was “bleisure.” The bleisure trend came about because more and more professionals decided they wanted to begin combining their business travel with leisure.

But 2023 is seeing a new group travel trend emerge called “set-jetting.”

What is Set-Jetting and Why is it Perfect for Incentive Travel in 2023?

We personally think set-jetting is an awesome idea! Basically you send your group to exotic destinations where popular movies and TV shows were filmed. And we totally see why this concept has become so popular. The fact is the entire world was locked down for nearly two years and many of us sat in front of our TVs consuming binge-worthy content. We fell in love with so many films and television shows, and so the idea of visiting those very same locations is something that thrills most people and gives their trip more value.

Expedia recently shared research that showed that movies and TV shows are now the top source of travel inspiration at 40%. They also reported that 68% of travelers considered visiting a destination after they saw it on a TV show or movie and 61% actually ended up booking that trip!

So where are some of the hottest set-jetting destinations for incentive travel in 2023? The following destinations have been featured in some of the most popular and award-winning TV shows of the past year…

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Hottest Set-Jetting Destinations for Incentive Travel in 2023

Sicily: The White Lotus

Google trends data shows us that searches for Sicily doubled between October and December of last year. That was in large part due to the second season of the Golden Globe award-winning HBO show The White Lotus, which was filmed on the rugged island of Sicily.

We are already seeing an upsurge of holiday travel to Sicilian destinations like Taormina and Noto with themed itineraries around the HBO series. The show was actually filmed in the San Domenico Palace Hotel. The glamorous resort used to be a 14-th century monastery but was converted into a resort by the Four Seasons. Booking rooms for your team in the actual filming location would make many people happy.

Spain (House of the Dragon)

The sun-soaked streets of Spain created the perfect backdrop for the wildly popular show House of the Dragon. If you watched the series last year, you may have noticed that some of the locations looked very familiar. That’s because the HBO show used similar locations as the show Game of Thrones. And that makes parts of Spain the absolute best set-jetting locations.

The UNESCO World Heritage Site, which is located in Extremadura, the Old Town of Cáceres, serves as the primary filming location for King’s Landing. As you can imagine, tourism in the area has seen a huge boost.

Other filming locations to consider sending your group are the Santa Clotilde Gardens, the medieval castle Castillo de La Calahorra, and Trujillo which is home to a number of medieval and renaissance buildings that saw a lot of screen time.

New Zealand (The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power)

Any Lord of the RIngs fans will know that Peter Jackson chose New Zealand as the backdrop for The Lord of the Rings Trilogy and The Hobbit trilogy because of the stunning and otherworldly scenery. So it is no surprise that we would be heading back to the land of Kiwis for the new The Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power fantasy series.

Over 100 filming locations around New Zealand helped to bring the ambience of Middle-Earth to life. Scenes were shot in Auckland, Haukari, Piha, Fjordland National Park, the Coromandel Peninsula, Hauraki Gulf, and more.

Japan (Alice in Borderland)

If you have team members that are fans of dystopian futuristic narratives, then sending them to Japan, which was the backdrop to Alice in Borderland, may be the perfect idea. The show was set in post-apocalyptic Tokyo and your team can still visit many of the locations from the show. For instance, the second season was primarily filmed in the Greater Tokyo area, with key scenes also filmed in Wakayama and Osaka and Aichi in the Chūbu region.

The Wrap

If you’ve been tasked with planning your organization’s next incentive travel itinerary, give these destinations some consideration. And if you want even more trendy destination ideas, just get in touch with us!