Focus on cultural communication to create momentum for tourism, services, and cultural industry development.

Art performance at Trang An Festival 2025. Photo: Minh Duong

Culture is a broad concept, with many different understandings, related to all aspects of human material and spiritual life. Basically, culture is poetry, music, painting, theater, cinema...; is relics, heritage... That is material culture and intangible culture. Communication is also a broad concept, simply understood, it is the process of transmitting information, opinions, news... between two or more people to communicate, connect, increase understanding and awareness.

Communication is an important tool in building brand image, promoting culture, cultural products... Cultural communication, simply understood, is the use of communication to build content to develop and promote culture, and provide suitable communication products.

In Vietnam, we have had many large-scale cultural communication projects and programs, such as: posting and broadcasting reports about the country and people of Vietnam on major media agencies in the world ; announcing feature films and television series (both by domestic and foreign directors) on various media platforms; producing and introducing famous music videos; large-scale, modern, and spectacular stage shows (live shows); posting press works related to culture... Ninh Binh province in general, and Hoa Lu ancient capital in particular, have also carried out cultural communication for a long time, achieving positive results.

The ancient capital of Hoa Lu is the core area of ​​the Trang An Scenic Landscape Complex, a destination imbued with the cultural and historical values ​​of the nation, with the golden imprint of a glorious time. That is also the core, the soul of Hoa Lu city - a millennium heritage city, an international tourist city in the future. And in the context of the strong development of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, with its rapid progress, promoting the image of a golden ancient capital with many cultural sediments still present today, the soul, the quintessential value of the modern Hoa Lu city, the center of cultural industry, entertainment industry, the role of the media is certainly indispensable.

In many cases, cultural products such as movies, music, dance, etc. also have the function and mission of communication, which means the purpose is to promote, spread, and convey messages to the general public, helping the public to receive, thereby becoming curious, impressed, interested, and then wanting to learn and explore . And if you want to explore and see with your own eyes, there is no other way than to travel, to go to the place to admire, feel, and enjoy what you have heard and seen through cultural communication products on different media channels and media platforms.

The whole world knows that promoting the image of a land with its own characteristics, with unique and exclusive products, reaching different audiences, on different platforms and media, especially in the digital space, is something that cannot be ignored, and even requires special attention. In particular, television dramas, music, digital content... play a very decisive role.

With TV series, many locations have become famous after the series was broadcast, attracting the attention of the public, first of all domestically. Some locations in Dali City, Yunnan Province, China have become famous throughout China and Vietnam, when the TV series "Going to the Windy Place" with the participation of 2 main actors Liu Yifei (as Hua Hong Dou) and Li Xian (as Xie Zhi Dao) was released.

The film was evaluated by UNESCO as having promoted the power of intangible cultural heritage, reviving the economy of Yunmiao Village, Dali - the setting of the film - which was a "remote place" where even Dali residents did not go. "Going Where the Wind Blows" was nominated by The New York Times (USA) as one of the outstanding international television series of 2023. In particular, after the film was released, it was highly appreciated for contributing to the boom of the local tourism industry. According to statistics from the Department of Culture and Tourism of Yunnan Province, Dali welcomed more than 45 million visitors during the Lunar New Year in 2023, with revenue reaching more than 38 million yuan, setting a new revenue record in the history of the resort tourism industry.

Another example, after the drama "Winter Sonata" was broadcast, with just a row of beautiful trees on the island, Jeju Island - the poorest region in Korea because it is far from the mainland and has limited arable land - became one of the famous tourist destinations throughout Korea and the world...

In Vietnam, many domestic and foreign films have also attracted the attention of the public at home and abroad, but the "exploitation" of the effects of the films has not been fully exploited at different levels. Particularly in Ninh Binh province - the setting of the Hollywood blockbuster "Kong: Skull Island" in 2017, with scenes filmed in Trang An eco-tourism area, Van Long lagoon, the successful effects of the film have also been exploited relatively well. Domestic and foreign tourists coming to Ninh Binh to visit the scenes in the film are increasing. Thanks to that, the tourism industry has also had strong development in recent years.

Another example where cultural communication, specifically music, has created a very good effect, will certainly create momentum for tourism development. In early March 2025, the MV "Bac Bling (Bac Ninh)" by singer Hoa Minzy, inspired by Quan Ho culture, was recognized by UNESCO as a representative intangible cultural heritage of humanity in 2009, creating a historical effect when it quickly and continuously created "fevers", topping the world music charts.

Not only Quan Ho, the unique and outstanding images of Bac Ninh province have been known and enjoyed by the whole world, and will certainly be an incentive for citizens of many countries to travel to Bac Ninh, especially when this province has opened free tours on weekends to famous local places, such as: But Thap Pagoda, Dau Pagoda, Dong Ho Painting Village, Do Temple, Phat Tich Pagoda, Kinh Duong Vuong Tomb, Phu Lang Pottery Village, Nguyen Cao Temple, Dien Quang Pagoda...

It has long been affirmed that intangible cultural products create momentum for tourism to develop strongly in most countries in the world. In addition, tangible cultural heritages and priceless historical relics also need to be communicated in a more systematic, professional and effective way, through specific products, such as documentaries, reports, "secret palace stories"... associated with the three dynasties of Dinh, Tien Le and the beginning of Ly, from Dinh Tien Hoang to Ly Thai To, in Hoa Lu, the first capital of Dai Co Viet - the centralized feudal state in Vietnam with historical vestiges: Unifying the country, defeating the Song - suppressing the Champa and starting the process of establishing the capital Thang Long-Hanoi.

Promoting the heritage values ​​and architectural works of the ancient capital of Hoa Lu such as temples, mausoleums, communal houses, pagodas, palaces, etc. is very important, not only for the value of preserving and teaching history but also creating a premise for economic development, especially tourism and service industries. Cultural communication to attract the public, tourists, and promote the ancient capital - a millennium heritage city, an international tourist city needs to be given due attention.

In addition to the main forms of media such as movies, music, and press information, the construction of a unique and spectacular art program, recreating the history of the ancient capital of Hoa Lu should also be considered soon. For example, Hoi An has the program "Hoi An Memories" that attracts a large number of domestic and foreign tourists. Abroad, any famous tourist destination in China also has spectacular live theater programs, harmoniously and reasonably combining history and modernity, recreating stories related to the land, people and memorable marks, associated with the name of famous director Zhang Yimou and historical relics of China...

Ninh Binh has been successful and experienced in developing tourism after the Hollywood film “Kong-Skull Island” was broadcast. Obviously, the direction of promoting Hoa Lu city - the millennium heritage city through cultural and artistic products, such as feature films, television series, documentaries, music videos, live shows... needs to be taken into serious consideration, because the effects and efficiency of valuable cultural and artistic products, the spread is very large, long-lasting, strongly impacting the development of the tourism and service industry.

And the most important thing is that if it is not communicated from the beginning in a systematic, strategic, correct and accurate way to different audiences, on different types and media platforms, it is difficult to create a widespread influence, causing a strong effect on the general public in the country and the world. Besides, it is necessary to promote the value of the ancient capital's heritage, with accompanying tourism products and services containing interesting, unique, mysterious historical stories...

Of course, promotion must be timely, widespread, and focused... on different platforms, targeting different audiences. Then, it is about seizing opportunities, creating the best conditions in terms of mechanisms and policies... so that related economic sectors, especially tourism, services, cultural industries... can develop quickly and steadily, contributing to local breakthrough and sustainable growth.

It can be affirmed that focusing on building cultural and media products to widely reach the public at home and abroad is one of the very important measures to create momentum for the tourism, service, cultural industry... to develop, contributing to building Hoa Lu city into a millennium heritage city, an international tourist city; a specialized center for cultural industry, entertainment industry, and innovation of the region and the country in the context of deep international integration today.

Nguyen Tri Thuc (Member of Editorial Board, Communist Magazine)

Source: https://baoninhbinh.org.vn/chu-trong-truyen-thong-van-hoa-tao-da-cho-du-lich-dich-vu-195903.htm