Wakanda Forever! Hotel Booking Sites Experience Increase in Searches for Fictional Country Shown in Black Panther Movie
Hotel booking sites are experiencing a humongous surge in traffic for the Wakanda Water Park in Wisconsin, East Africa.
Black Panther movie seems to be having a vast effect on people than expected. It opened to great reviews worldwide with overall international Box Office collection of USD 1 billion. While it has definitely brought in the inclusivity factor, hotel searches for the fictional country in the movie, Wakanda, has increased. Hotel booking sites are experiencing a humongous surge in traffic for the Wakanda Water Park in Wisconsin, East Africa.
According to a Daily Mail report, two hotel booking sites have revealed that site searches for the word 'Wakanda' have risen tremendously. Hotelscan.com reported that the number of people landing on their Wisconsin Wakanda Water Park page is up by 620 percent. Another travel website Hotels.com reported that searches for Wakanda Park are up by 55 percent year this year.
They also have high searches for other things associated with Wakanda around the world. The site also saw an increase in searches for Wauconda in Illinois by more than 25 percent and Makanda, which is also in Illinois by over 40 percent on the year. Other places which sound the same including Further afield, Wakaya, in Fiji have searched up by 235 percent, while Wakkanai in Japan has more than 55 percent year-on-year uplift.
The report quoted Isabelle Pinson, Vice President, EMEA, at Hotels.com brand as saying, "Our hotel portfolio spans more than 200 counties and territories around the world but not yet Wakanda. We're looking into it. The film has touched the hearts and minds of millions of film fans around the world. It's a brilliant watch and we regularly see that pop culture inspires travel choices. We love that holidaymakers are seeking the Black Panther's homeland, from Wisconsin to Japan. Wakanda forever!"
Hotelscan.com said that other most-searched fictional locations on its site are Hawkins, Indiana (Stranger Things); Wakanda (Black Panther); Riverdale (Riverdale); San Junipero (Black Mirror) and Fortitude (Fortitude).
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 15, 2018 03:04 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).