Wakanda has become a destination that many are interested in vacationing in recently: for several months, searches have been conducted online for hotels in the country, even though it is a fictional country in Africa, which is widely publicized in Hollywood superhero movies.
The plot of the blockbusters takes place in the country and is mentioned in the massive advertising that has accompanied the films in recent months. But not all viewers are aware that the place does not exist, creating an effect of demand for vacations in the fictional destination.
Eyal Segal, from the hotel search site Hotels Combined: "The demand for a vacation in Wakanda is a contemporary and popular example of an existing phenomenon that we know of, of demand for vacations in fictional sites from fairy tales. The phenomenon occurs near trends, when for some reason a fictional destination receives massive publicity and exposure, and the search is done mainly by young people and teenagers.".
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Every year, thousands of people from around the world are exposed to advertisements and search for hotels in fictional destinations. Some of the searches may be done out of curiosity, but it is estimated that if the average cost of a hotel vacation is in the hundreds of dollars, then this is an audience that is willing to invest millions of dollars in total on vacations in non-existent sites.
Segal adds: "There are cases where fictional hotels or destinations have names similar to real destinations, and our website team took time to understand that the searches were for a fictional site. For example, it took us time to understand that 'Tiberias' is not a mistake for Tiberias, but a fictional European nation surrounded by the Carpathian Mountains.".
Other fictional sites that are in demand are the islands from Gulliver's Travels, especially Lilliput Island. They don't exist in reality, but since it's a timeless legend, there are always people who are exposed to the story and think about vacationing in Gulliver's Islands. Disney movies are very popular and never stop creating new magical and fictional places.
