The White Lotus Effect Could Be a Disaster for Thailand's Koh Samui - And Travel Media Is Making it Worse
Skift Take
On Experience
Colin Nagy is a marketing strategist and writes on customer-centric experiences and innovation across the luxury sector, hotels, aviation, and beyond. You can read all of his writing here.The Four Seasons positioning itself with The White Lotus is one of the smartest marketing partnerships in travel. It is a masterclass in old-school, top-of-funnel marketing, achieving something few luxury brands manage: catapulting into mainstream awareness while maintaining exclusivity.
Some top-line numbers: The show's Season 2 finale drew 9.3 million viewers, and the Four Seasons Resort Maui reported a 425% increase in website traffic following Season 1.
To be clear, the brand and marketing teams have done their job, and done it well.
My beef here is that much of the media coverage surrounding this phenomenon (and the launch of the new season set in Thailand) has been largely uncritical. The surge of attention is set to bring an influx of hyper-tourism to Koh Samui, a small Thai island already grappling with infrastructure challenges: namely water scar
