Ninh Binh focuses on promoting tourism through cinema

Golden Pagoda area (Hoa Lu city) - where many beautiful scenes were filmed in the long-running TV series "Taste of Love" produced by VTV in 2021. Photo: Ngoc Linh

First steps

Ninh Binh is a land rich in historical traditions, culture, natural resources with a very special natural heritage ecosystem such as: Cuc Phuong National Park, Trang An Scenic Landscape Complex... and unique cultural heritage, associated with the historical periods of Hoa Lu Ancient Capital.

Recently, the success of the movie “Kong: Skull Island” by director Jordan VogtRoberts with spectacular scenes filmed in Ninh Binh shows that this place is completely capable of becoming a filming location for Hollywood blockbusters. In addition, the movie “Pan and the Neverland” chose Ha Long Bay (Quang Ninh), En Cave (Quang Binh), Van Long Lagoon (Ninh Binh) as the setting to film some beautiful scenes. In the movie, the brilliant and mysterious mountains and rivers of Ninh Binh are an opportunity to promote tourism to international friends.

Comrade Bui Van Manh, Director of the Department of Tourism, said: In recent years, Ninh Binh tourism has been continuously mentioned in prestigious travel websites around the world such as: Travel and Entertainment Magazine (USA) ranked Ninh Binh in the list of 12 most beautiful filming locations in Asia; is the only representative of Vietnam in the top 10 friendliest destinations in the world. Forbes Magazine (USA) voted Ninh Binh as one of the 23 most worth-visiting destinations in the world. In 2024, Ninh Binh ranked 4th in the "Top 10 wonders of the world for people who don't like crowds"; top 10 most attractive experiences in the world...

With an early orientation of preserving heritage values ​​for economic development in a green, harmonious and sustainable direction, Ninh Binh has successfully preserved many tangible and intangible heritages, a typical example of which is the Trang An Scenic Landscape Complex. After more than 10 years of being recognized by UNESCO as a World Cultural and Natural Heritage, Trang An has truly become a driving force for economic development, especially tourism. In addition, Trang An has also attracted the production of a number of famous films such as: The Quiet American, The Two Daughters of the Medicinal Garden Owner, The Hero's Destiny, Kong: Skull Island, The Desire of Thang Long, Tam Cam: The Untold Story, 578-The Madman's Bullet, Come Home, Trang Ti, The Taste of Love, Cheer Up, Brothers... Through these films, it has contributed to promoting the culture, tourism, and people of the Ancient Capital to international friends.

Assessing the potential for the development of the film industry in Ninh Binh, Dr. Ngo Phuong Lan, President of the Vietnam Association for the Promotion of Cinema Development, shared: Ninh Binh has a unique and rich landscape, like a miniature Vietnam, containing historical and cultural sediments deposited in deep layers. This is suitable for planning the construction of ancient film studios that do not exist in Vietnam, moving towards opening up and developing the genre of historical and historical films in Vietnam...

Along with the advantages of landscape, Ninh Binh has taken the lead in building outstanding mechanisms to welcome domestic and international filmmakers. I believe that when the film industry develops, it will lead to the development of tourism, service and related economic sectors, and the lesson of developing the Korean film industry can be a model for reference...

Lots of room for growth

Developing tourism through cinema is not a new story. Cinema has affirmed itself as an effective tourism promotion channel in the national tourism development strategy. Beautiful scenes in blockbuster movies can create a "magic" to attract tourists, helping destinations, places, products, and tourism services in the movies become famous, thereby stimulating tourism demand.

However, the reality shows that the connection between cinema and tourism in Ninh Binh in recent times is still just a coincidence. A few slices of images captured by the director's camera lens are still just a simple backdrop, serving as a background for the content and not serving the main purpose of promoting tourism. Cinematic works that demonstrate the connection and effectiveness between cinema and tourism have not yet been truly achieved. Ninh Binh's tourism potential has not yet been "awakened" and effectively exploited by filmmakers, and the promotion of destinations through cinematographic works has stopped at a few small examples.

Understanding the advantages of promoting tourism through cinema, Resolution No. 22-NQ/TU on developing cultural industries in Ninh Binh province in the period of 2025-2035, with a vision to 2050, also clearly defines the specific goal of "film industry and film studio park" as one of the 10 cultural industry sectors with local competitive advantages based on promoting innovation and applying scientific and technological achievements. Cinema is also one of the 12 cultural industry sectors approved by the Government, creating an important driving force to promote socio-economic development.

Therefore, according to Mr. Bui Van Manh, Director of the Department of Tourism, in the coming time, to attract many international film crews to Ninh Binh to survey and choose as filming locations, there needs to be close coordination between the tourism industry and all levels, sectors, and businesses, and to introduce new policies to facilitate international film producers to Ninh Binh. Thereby, bringing the image and brand of the destination to global audiences through "blockbuster" films.

To do this, Ninh Binh has researched and developed policies to support film crews, performing arts, and local marketing. At the same time, Resolution No. 22-NQ/TU on the development of cultural industries in Ninh Binh province has also proposed outstanding solutions such as: Planning the development of key cultural industries based on outstanding potential and competitive advantages; taking cultural and entertainment needs as the driving force; taking cultural and artistic creativity as the core value; taking the commercialization of innovative ideas and the application of scientific and technological achievements as breakthroughs.

Accordingly, Ninh Binh will accelerate the development of a number of cultural-entertainment industries such as performance-event industry, sports industry, film industry-film park. Each sub-industry prioritizes the selection of a number of outstanding and distinctive products to attract investment for development ahead, forming an attractive "playground" for famous people in the cultural-entertainment industry, soon turning Ninh Binh into a center for organizing art, sports, and film events in the region and the country.

Nguyen Thom

Source: https://baoninhbinh.org.vn/ninh-binh-chu-trong-quang-ba-xuc-tien-du-lich-thong-qua-514370.htm