HÀ NỘI – With beautiful landscapes and unique cultural heritages, Việt Nam has great potential to promote tourism through cinema.

Although the country is considered attractive to world filmmakers, the connection between cinema and tourism remains loose.

With efforts to promote the connection, Việt Nam hopes to boost tourism through cinema activities. With beautiful landscapes stretching from the North to the South and many unique cultural heritages, Việt Nam has great potential to promote tourism through cinema.

Việt Nam has been chosen as a filming location for famous films namely The Lover, Indochina, The Quiet American, Pan, and Kong: Skull Islands. Through these films, Việt Nam is known to more international tourists.

For example, after the release of the film Indochina in 1992 with some scenes filmed in Hạ Long Bay in the northern Quảng Ninh Province, Thái Hòa Palace, Tự Đức Tomb in the central Thừa Thiên -Huế Province, and Tam Coc - Bích Động in the northern Ninh Bình Province, the number of European tourists, especially French holidaymakers, has increased sharply, accounting for 80 per cent of international visitors to the Tam Cốc - Bích Động tourist area.

The film Kong: Skull Islands in 2017 is also said to help increase the number of international visitors to Tràng An in the northern province of Ninh Bình and Hạ Long in Quảng Ninh Province.

Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Nguyễn Văn Hùng said that, among the 12 fields of the cultural industry, cinema and tourism are the two key industries. Their connection will be an important driving force for economic development. The cinema-tourism connection is an inevitable trend to effectively develop and promote tourism, he said.

Nicholas Simon, Founder and Managing Partner of Indochina Productions – a renowned film production in Hollywood, said that Việt Nam has a lot of potential to become a world film studio with many places possibly being used as backdrops for filming scenes such as Hạ Long Bay, Hội An or Hà Nội.

In addition, Vietnamese people are very hospitable while the working environment is pleasant, which are among reasons why international filmmakers want to come to Việt Nam.

On September 25, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism organised a programme to promote Vietnamese tourism and cinema in the US with the theme "Việt Nam - New Destination of World Cinema". The event was expected to open the door for cooperation between world filmmakers and Việt Nam, thereby increasing the country's attraction.

During the event, many memoranda of understanding on cooperation in tourism and cinema between agencies, localities, Vietnamese enterprises and US partners were signed. Notably, the People's Committee of Quảng Bình Province and Vietnam Airlines signed a cooperation agreement with Indochina Productions; and the Việt Nam Cinema Association signed an agreement with the Asian World Film Festival (AWFF).

Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Hồ An Phong said that the cooperation between Vietnamese and US filmmakers paves the way for Việt Nam to become a leading destination for US filmmakers. Việt Nam is ready to cooperate with foreign partners in film projects, he added.

At Việt Nam’s tourism - cinema promotion programme in the US, Vietnamese and international experts agreed that there is great potential to promote tourism - cinema development in Việt Nam. However, the Vietnamese market still has many shortcomings and obstacles. For example, there is not much information about Việt Nam.

Director Nicholas Simon from Indochina Productions suggested that Việt Nam should have preferential policies, reduce costs and administrative procedures for filmmakers.

Phillip Noyce, Director of the film The Quiet American, added that Việt Nam needs to train professional human resources and favourable conditions for the cinema industry.

Phong said that Việt Nam is making efforts to simplify filming licences, provide tax incentives, and necessary support for international film crews.

With cooperation programmes signed by Vietnamese localities, companies and foreign partners, it is hoped that in the coming time, there will be more international film crews coming to Việt Nam, bringing opportunities for Việt Nam to promote its tourism. – VNA/VNS