Alberta takes control of its presence on screens and establishes itself in pop culture

Cascade of Time Garden, Banff – Capture de Can This Love Be Translated? No Ju-han/Netflix

In the Canadian province of Alberta, the Film Commission and Travel Alberta are orchestrating a strategy to convert film exposure into tours and reservations. Driven by global franchises and local content, it is already showing tangible results.

The curious who watched the South Korean series Can This Love Be Translated? on Netflix may have found the outdoor sequences particularly long and able to showcase the neighborhoods of Calgary and the surrounding areas of Banff and the Canadian Rockies. This 2026 K-drama is among the beneficiaries of an incentive system put in place by the province of Alberta which aims to attract productions and transform their visibility into real attendance. In addition to this mini-series, several productions were convinced to film on Alberta soil: The Last of Us (HBO), adapted from the video game of the same name, or Heartland, the series from the public channel CBC that has been filmed for a long time in Alberta.

Alberta authorities are banking on several virtuous consequences. This program should strengthen the attractiveness of Alberta as a film set, which remains an important economic activity. Canada has long represented an alternative, sometimes more practical or less expensive, to the iconic settings of the United States (Pawn Sacrifice, 2014, for example uses Montreal to evoke New York and other cities). On the contrary, this program seems to underline the identity of the province and enhance the image of Alberta in the world, both to satisfy Alberta taxpayers but also, and above all, to convert the desire born on the screen into stays, purchases and reservations.

The heart of the system is the Film and Television Tax Credit (FTTC), a refundable tax credit applied to eligible production costs incurred in Alberta and initiated from 2020. To access the maximum tax credit rate of 30%, a producer can in particular ensure that 75% of principal filming days in Alberta take place in rural or remote areas within a perimeter defined by the province. Since June 7, 2024, productions can submit an application online up to 120 days after the start of filming in Alberta. FTTC, the Alberta Media Fund offers sectoral grants, while the Alberta Film Commission provides operational services (spotting, logistics, support).

He believes in “set-jetting”

Hosting a production is a first step, with tourism professionals then taking over. “In the Korean K‒drama Can This Love Be Translated, Alberta is shown as it is, with many picturesque locations across the province.”explains Mark Ham, executive director, Film Commissioner at the Ministry of Arts, Culture and the Status of Women. “Travel Alberta launched an associated tourism campaign by creating a road trip inspired by the series: as of May 6, 2026, the page had more than 23,500 views, and the first analyzes of the campaign partners estimate to date 3,316 reservations valued at approximately CA$15 million. A similar campaign launched with The Last of Us showed record engagement rates, generating over 137,000 web visits and accounting for a fifth of Travel Alberta’s total traffic during the active period.”

 

The results are convincing: According to Amadeus figures, while The Last of Us became the most viewed HBO series in Europe, the demand for flights to Alberta for the first half of 2026 showed an increase of 20%, notably thanks to demand from EU countries, +47%.

This trend identified by Amadeus is confirmed by Expedia’s Unpack ’26 report, which calls it “Set-Jetting”. Travel demand, increasingly fragmented, no longer aggregates around a few essential destinations for their monuments or their history. International franchises pose themselves as transversal benchmarks capable of transcending cultures and nationalities. Alberta seems to have fully understood this and has taken steps to cause this phenomenon. The province is empowering itself to create a place in the imagination of travelers around the world by leveraging international franchises and converting global attention into measurable visits.

Photo d’ouverture : Can This Love Be Translated? No Ju-han/Netflix