Vietnam’s golf courses to go on int’l air

      Local golf courses will be featured on international TV channels under a publicity program to promote the country’s tourism sector, according to a program being mulled by the International Cooperation Bureau under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.
Nguyen Van Tinh, head of the bureau, told the Daily on Tuesday that his agency was now in talks with the StarSports channel on detailed contents for a publicity program on this popular channel. The two sides have discussed contents and a film script for the program, but further discussions about the cost are needed as the bureau insists on a lower price.
“We are in the process of discussion. We want to promote the country’s golf courses on the famous sport channel in this winter to attract visitors to come in,” he said.
Tinh said that the bureau is also discussing a second publicity program on the Cable News Network or CNN. The first publicity program for the country’s tourism on the famous network took place in three months from October 2007 costing over US$290,000 covered by the State Budget.
“The partner has asked for around US$300,000 for this time. We will ink a contract if the channel agrees to cut down the cost,” Tinh said.
On May 27, the London-based BBC channel started promoting Vietnam’s tourism for an eight-week program. The program costs more than US$200,000.
The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has also entrusted the International Cooperation Bureau to promote images of Vietnam’s tourism on 27 taxi cabs in London during six months.
Tinh said that apart from such programs the bureau would invite international media and travel agent visitors to Vietnam. Of the guests, a group of Russian media, a group of Swedish travel agencies, and a group from the Chinese CCTV channel will visit to the country in this year.
The bureau will also cooperate with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to promote Vietnam on the occasion of the Vietnam Day in California in the U.S., which will kick off in the fourth quarter of this year.
According to Tinh, Vietnam’s tourism this year will have a budget of around VND50 billion or nearly US$3 million to carry out activities to promote the country’s tourism. Half of the budget comes from the National Tourism Action Program, and the balance from the Investment, Trade, Tourism Promotion Fund of the central Government.