Love the diversity, uniqueness and novelty in Vietnam

Many countries have become the focus of attracting tourists worldwide thanks to movies, Mr. Nguyen Trung Khanh, Director of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, emphasized at the discussion Vietnam - a new destination for world cinema, organized by Nhan Dan newspaper in coordination with the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism on the morning of September 10.

In fact, some localities in the country such as Quang Binh, Ninh Binh, Hoi An, Ha Long, etc. were chosen by international film crews as the setting for their film projects. Immediately after the work was released, a large number of tourists immediately flocked there.

Mr. Bui Van Manh, Director of Ninh Binh Department of Tourism, cited that in 1992, after the film Indochina was released, Tam Coc - Bich Dong tourist area (Ninh Binh) became known to many international visitors, especially French tourists.

Currently, French and European tourists account for 80% of visitors to Tam Coc - Bich Dong tourist area, changing the structure of tourists here, while previously Tam Coc - Bich Dong had almost no international visitors, Mr. Manh said.

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The number of international visitors to Tam Coc - Bich Dong (Ninh Binh) is increasing, especially French visitors, after the movie Indochina was filmed here. Photo: VNA

Mr. Ngo Minh Quan, Director of Foreign Market Division (Vietravel), gave an example, the movie Braveheart (Brave Heart - 1995) filmed at Wallace Monument, Scotland brought about an extremely positive effect with a 300% increase in the number of visitors, right after the movie was released.

Most recently, the movie Mission Impossible (2023) filmed in Sydney also brought a growth of more than 200% in visitor arrivals to Australia that same year.

As a unit that has cooperated many times with film crews, television programs, documentaries, and even music videos,... to promote Son Doong Cave (Quang Binh), General Director of Oxalis Company Limited, Mr. Nguyen Chau A, realized that foreign filmmakers really like the scenery and setting of Vietnam because of its diversity, uniqueness and novelty; especially compared to destinations such as Thailand, the Philippines... with very familiar settings.

However, foreign filmmakers hope that Vietnam will create more favorable conditions for licensing film projects and want support in security and order, and maintain confidentiality during filming.

“They also want more preferential tax policies (VAT, personal income) for international film projects filmed in Vietnam. In addition, Hollywood studios hope that Vietnam will have more production and logistics companies serving international film crews in a more professional and transparent manner to ensure international requirements,” said Mr. Nguyen Chau A.

There are still many bottlenecks.

Claiming to be “a lifelong filmmaker”, Ms. Ngo Phuong Lan, President of the Vietnam Cinema Promotion and Development Association, quoted Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Nguyen Van Hung when mentioning two films as two models for combining cinema with tourism: “I see yellow flowers on green grass” produced in 2015 and “Kong: Skull island” by Hollywood made in Vietnam in 2016.

She believes that when making a film, we should not touristize it, which means finding every way to put tourism messages into the work, because a cinematic work must first have value in order to have the power to spread and from there promote the locality and destination.

“If we touristize a film, both sides will not achieve results, the film will not be successful and will not promote tourism,” she suggested.

In addition, to support and promote domestic film projects as well as attract foreign film crews to Vietnam for production, Ms. Lan recommends that there should be tax reduction and tax incentives for filmmakers. This is a major factor in attracting film crews to Vietnam.

“If you look at Thailand, they attract about 100 film crews, big and small, every year, but in Vietnam, if you count them all, I still see that it's not enough to fill two hands,” she said.

That proves that people come to film in Vietnam but are not given preferential treatment, they will go to places with similar landscapes like Thailand, the Philippines or other countries that welcome them. Thus, we will lose many customers.

According to Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Ho An Phong, the tourism industry needs to study and learn from countries with developed film industries. However, when promoting, we should not only go to film centers but also organize film promotion events right in Vietnam combined with tourism, listening to understand what the film crew wants.

At the seminar, Minister Nguyen Van Hung affirmed that the effectiveness of the connection between cinema and tourism has been proven in practice. This is a correct direction and an inevitable trend, creating a great influence in promoting tourism and introducing the image of Vietnam.

Therefore, in the coming time, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism will continue to coordinate with units and localities to organize programs to promote tourism promotion with other industries. Notably, the program to promote tourism through cinema in Hollywood (from September 21-28) is being urgently implemented and completed.

This is an opportunity for Vietnam to introduce its image, people, filmmaking scene, tourism, cooperation opportunities, etc. The program also focuses on connecting businesses, with businesses as the main subject. Initially, there will be 5 contracts signed; in which, localities commit to sponsor and have a mechanism to support US film crews. It is expected that in the near future, there will be US film promotion events in Vietnam.

Enterprises contribute money to invite American film producers to promote Vietnam tourism Vietnam will call on filmmakers, especially major American film studios, to participate in production in Vietnam, with separate support policies. The cost of organizing the event is about 10 billion VND and 100% mobilized from contributions from enterprises.