This paper empirically investigates the relationships of TV drama series, cultural proximity and travel motivation, especially examining the moderating effect of enduring involvement in this relationship. The findings reveal that only TV drama series, not cultural proximity, has positive effects on travel motivation. The viewer's enduring involvement with the drama shows its moderating effects on the drama–motivation relationship but only on the cultural proximity–motivation relationship for the high‐enduring‐involvement viewers. Overall, this study highlights a viewer's enduring involvement role in enhancing/changing the effects of TV dramas and cultural proximity on the viewer's travel motivation to the places depicted in the programs. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.