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White Lotus Season 4: The French Riviera Is Next
HBO's hit series doesn't just entertain millions — it moves them. Literally. Here's how one TV show became the world's most powerful tourism campaign.
Screen Tourism
When HBO announced that The White Lotus would be heading to the French Riviera for its fourth season, travel agents across Europe took notice. So did hotel booking platforms, airline route planners, and tourism boards from Nice to Monaco. Because by now, everyone in the travel industry knows what it means when a new season of this show picks a destination.
What is The White Lotus?
Created by Mike White, The White Lotus is a dark comedy-drama that follows wealthy guests and the staff who serve them at a fictional five-star resort. Each season is set in a different luxury destination, using stunning scenery as the backdrop for sharp satire of privilege, desire, and moral failure. It has won multiple Emmy Awards and attracts tens of millions of viewers worldwide.
A new location, every season
The show's anthology format — a new destination each season — has turned it into an accidental travel series. Season 1 brought viewers to the Four Seasons Resort Maui at Wailea in Hawaii. Season 2 moved to the Four Seasons San Domenico Palace in Taormina, Sicily. Season 3 traded European elegance for Southeast Asian spirituality, filming at the Four Seasons Koh Samui and Anantara Mai Khao Phuket in Thailand. And Season 4 will take us somewhere entirely new: the sun-drenched coastline of the French Riviera.
The numbers behind the hype
The tourism impact of each season is not anecdotal — it is measurable, and it is staggering. The Hawaii hotel saw a 425% increase in website visits after Season 1 aired. Sicily's Four Seasons was booked solid for six months after Season 2 wrapped. When Thailand was announced as the Season 3 location, Hotels.com reported a 40% spike in bookings for the Koh Samui property, and airlines including Finnair added extra weekly flights to Phuket.
Season 4: Saint-Tropez is next
For Season 4, the show has chosen the Château de La Messardière in Saint-Tropez — a 19th-century estate now part of the ultra-exclusive Airelles Collection, set across 13 hectares of Mediterranean gardens. Filming begins in late April 2026, with additional scenes planned in Paris. French actors including Vincent Cassel have already joined the cast.
