Reality shows and TV series are increasingly boosting the popularity of the destinations where they were shot among Chinese tourists, a survey by the China Tourism Academy and travel review website Mafengwo has found.
More than 24 percent of respondents said they would want to visit a destination they never knew before just because they watched a reality show or TV drama.
The popularity of such shooting locations jumps about 50 percent after the airing of the shows — and 265 percent for overseas destinations — based on booking data and other research.
For example, the lesser-known Xingyi City in Guizhou Province soared 79 percent after the shooting of one episode of the reality show "Where Are We Going, Dad?"
And bookings for Thailand's Koh Chang surged 547 percent after the shooting of "Chinese Restaurant," about celebrities operating a restaurant overseas.
TV series like "White Deer Plain" and "Game of Thrones" have also boosted tourism of Shaanxi Province and overseas destinations like Iceland and Morocco among Chinese tourists.
About 28 percent of tourists said they would pick destinations based on recommendations from relatives, friends or colleagues, and 15.6 percent said they are influenced by WeChat tourism accounts and websites.
