Vietnam to advertise on BBC World and taxis in UK

      The Prime Minister has agreed to spend VND 25 billion on promoting tourism in 2009, and a part of which will be spent on advertising Vietnam’s image on BBC World and taxis in the UK, according to Nguyen Van Tinh, Head of the International Cooperation Department under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.
Tinh told VietNamNet that the ministry will have a working session with the BBC about the advertisement. Meanwhile, the advertisements on taxis in the UK is planned to be carried out in a larger scale and for longer time.
Could you please tell us about the program on advertising Vietnam’s image on the BBC? Is that true that the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism in 2008 once suggested the idea?
Vietnam once carried out the advertisement campaign on international media with the advertisement spots on CNN, about which people give different opinions about the efficiency. However, as we only advertised on CNN Asia, it had limited effects on attracting more international travelers.
According to the General Statistics Office, it is estimated that 340,000 international travelers arrived in Vietnam in March, down by 0.9% in comparison with February 2009. In the first three months of the year, 1.3 million travelers arrived in Vietnam.
The number of travelers to Vietnam from several markets keeps rising. The travelers from Canada, for example, increased by 28%, the US 27%, and Australia 15%. Meanwhile, the number of travelers from several markets decreased significantly, like from Thailand, down by 32%, South Korea 23%, China 21%, Japan 10%, and Malaysia at 8.6% over the same period of the last year.
In 2009, the advertisement will be carried out on BBC World with 320 spots. It is expected that each spot will last 30 seconds. There will be eight weeks of broadcasting in Asia Pacific, six weeks in Europe, and six weeks in America.
The BBC has said that the advertisement will cost US $204,000, not including the expenses on making the video clips for broadcasting, which is estimated to cost between US $15-20,000. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism is working on with the Ministry of Finance on the sum of money.
How about the advertisement on taxis in the UK?
Last year, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism got a sponsor package worth £7,000 to advertise Vietnam’s images on public means of transport in the UK, especially on buses, for three months.
We plan to expand the advertisement on taxis this year, providing the images of Ha Long bay and sea tourism in Vietnam.
The Government last year approved the budget of VND 30 billion for tourism promotion, but the sum of money was not used up. Will the situation repeat in 2009?
It is true that the sum of money was not used up last year. However, the Prime Minister has asked to build up the regulations on using the sum of money. We have drawn up the regulations and are consulting with ministries and branches before the regulations are submitted to the Government.
As far as I know, many enterprises once protested the advertisement of Vietnam’s image on the BBC.
It is because they don’t know exactly the details of the campaign. We will advertise on BBC World, which means the images will be seen all over the wall. The BBC will send staff to Vietnam to make clips and will broadcast the clips after Vietnam approves the content. We will discuss the detail of the work next week.
The Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) has launched the program on slashing tour fees to stimulate the demand. Will the details of the program be provided on the advertisement shot?
The shots will last 30 seconds only. Vietnam needs to advertise its beautiful landscapes like the beautiful sea and Ha Long Bay.
When will the spots appear on BBC World?
I think in April 2009.