The Korean drama “이 사랑 통역 되나요” (“Can This Love Be Translated?”) has produced a wave of pilgrimage-style tourism to its filming locations, with fans traveling from as far as Canada and Japan specifically to visit sites featured in the show — part of a broader boom in K-content-driven filming-location tourism that travel operators say is reshaping how foreign fans plan Korea trips.
Travel agencies, including major operator Hana Tour, have reported a surge in booking demand tied specifically to the drama’s filming locations, a pattern that has become increasingly common as Korean production companies and local tourism boards recognize the promotional value of drama sets and lean into it, sometimes designating official “filming location tour” routes once a show becomes a hit.
What distinguishes this wave of fan tourism from earlier K-drama location tourism is its geographic reach: rather than concentrating among fans in nearby Asian markets, the drama has drawn dedicated visitors from North America, suggesting Korean content’s fan base has matured to the point where location-specific travel — long a niche activity among the most devoted fans — is becoming a more mainstream travel motivator across a wider range of source markets.
The phenomenon reflects a broader shift industry watchers have identified in 2026 Korea travel trends: tourism increasingly starts with content rather than the destination itself, meaning a visitor’s itinerary is built around specific scenes and locations from a favorite drama or K-pop event rather than a generic list of must-see attractions, fundamentally changing how tourism boards and local businesses near filming sites market themselves.
For neighborhoods and small businesses located near popular filming sites, the tourism influx can be a meaningful economic boost, though it also brings challenges familiar from other filming-tourism hotspots worldwide — managing visitor volume at locations that are, after all, ordinary streets, cafes, or parks not originally built to handle sustained tourist traffic.
Source: Korean travel industry coverage of “이 사랑 통역 되나요” filming-location tourism and Hana Tour booking trends, 2026.
