Awakening Binh Thuan tourism potential through cinema

Unique Bau Trang film studio

Bau Trang landscape is known for its fresher, more cinematic perspective.

Recently, the film Lat mat 8 - Vong tay nang by director Ly Hai was released with the main scene of the film being filmed at Bau Trang scenic spot, creating record box office revenue, contributing to promoting tourism in Binh Thuan. The beautiful scenes filmed at the place known as "little Sahara desert" have attracted and attracted strong attention from the audience. Once again, Bau Trang is known for a fresher, more cinematic perspective, continuing to affirm its inherent "attraction" to tourists when coming to Binh Thuan.

Located about 60 km north of Phan Thiet city center, Bau Trang is a majestic and poetic landscape that nature has bestowed upon Binh Thuan for thousands of years. This place is known for its unique combination of white sand dunes and large freshwater lakes, creating a beautiful, wild space that is not lacking in mystery. The landscape has 2 lakes called Bau Ong, Bau Ba and Trinh Nu sand dunes.

Riding a camel to conquer the sand dunes is one of the services that tourists can experience when coming to Bau Trang.

Although located in a sunny, windy, arid area, the lakes are extremely abundant and cool. Thanks to that, the surrounding trees grow lushly like an oasis. The highlight is that Bau Trang is surrounded by the Virgin sand dunes with white sand, stretching out. During the day, each sea breeze blowing in will make the sand dunes change shape, flexible like silk strips.

With its unique terrain, location and beautiful scenery, Bau Trang was once listed in the Top 100 impressive destinations in Vietnam in 2013, the favorite destination of ASEAN in 2014 and the Top 100 favorite tourist destinations in the Southern region in 2016. Bau Trang scenic complex was ranked as a national monument by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism in 2019. Along with that, Bau Trang is located in the Mui Ne National Tourist Area approved by the Prime Minister.

Nowadays, with good investment in transport infrastructure, Bau Trang is always crowded with tourists and has become an indispensable destination when coming to Binh Thuan. Visitors coming here can not only explore Hon Yen right next to the coastal route but also immerse themselves in sand sliding, ostrich riding, taking photos, especially experiencing the experience of conquering sand dunes with off-road vehicles...

Bau Trang sand hill is also known as the "Little Sahara" with undulating sand mountains of many different shapes and always changing due to the impact of the wind.

Mr. Millan Palmer (from England) said: “I learned about Bau Trang from reviews on social networks. And indeed, coming here was a real surprise. The giant white sand dunes with beautiful shapes. Most of all, we explored them by thrilling motorbike rides. We decided to extend our trip by another month to enjoy this place.”

According to Ms. Hoang Thu Nga (from Binh Duong), every time she comes to Binh Thuan, she goes to Bau Trang to have fun and take photos. However, after watching the movie Lat Mat 8, with the director's perspective, Bau Trang is sparkling and beautiful in a different way, so she decided to come here to play and visit the scenes in the movie.

According to the Management Board of Bau Trang Ecotourism Site, the number of visitors during the April 30 - May 1 holiday increased by 35% compared to the same period last year with about 10,200 arrivals. It is expected that by the end of May 2025, Bau Trang will welcome about 117,000 visitors, of which international visitors account for about 30%.

Promoting tourism through cinema

The high sand dunes at Bau Trang give visitors the feeling of excitement when participating in adventurous games on the sand.

Mr. Nguyen Linh Vu, Director of Binh Thuan Province Tourism Promotion Center said: “Taking advantage of the influence of recent films, Binh Thuan Province Tourism Promotion Center has just organized a survey with the participation of many travel service units and tourism businesses. From there, it helps tourism service businesses to connect, add more experience points, research and build new services to increase the recognition of Binh Thuan tourism through cinema”.

In addition to Bau Trang, Phu Quy Island with its wild beauty, the emerald green of the sea blending with the white of the sky and clouds, the majestic beauty of the towering cliffs... has also attracted audiences when watching the scenes in the movie "Anh Thay Ngôi Sao". Or the beautiful scenes at Ke Ga beach with a lighthouse over a hundred years old, Mui Ne fishing village with the bustling life of fishermen, Phan Thiet fish sauce village, Chi Cong salt fields... have also been used by directors and filmmakers as backgrounds in video clips, music videos, movies...

Sovereignty marker on Phu Quy Island (Binh Thuan), one of the most popular tourist destinations.

Mr. Nguyen Le Thanh, Deputy Director of the provincial Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, said: Binh Thuan not only possesses a beautiful, diverse and rich natural environment with mountains, forests, hills, plains, rivers, streams, beaches and islands, but also has long-standing traditional cultural values. This could be a very attractive setting for filmmakers.

It can be seen that cinema has an important contribution in promoting and promoting the image and people of Binh Thuan, encouraging tourists to come to experience and explore. However, the beautiful footage of regions appearing in the films is mostly just a simple backdrop, a background for the content and does not really serve the purpose of promoting tourism. To awaken the potential of Binh Thuan tourism through cinema, there needs to be solutions to promote the coordination between tourism and cinema, contributing to promoting Binh Thuan destinations more effectively.

Mr. Nguyen Le Thanh said that in the coming time, the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism will continue to promote the beautiful images and cultural values ​​of Binh Thuan to the public as well as filmmakers. The province always creates the most favorable conditions for film crews when they come to film in the locality to create conditions to better exploit the local tourism potential as well as develop the cinema culture.

Source: https://bvhttdl.gov.vn/danh-thuc-tiem-nang-du-lich-binh-thuan-qua-dien-anh-20250521091752272.htm