A video to promote Vietnamese tourism by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has recently received positive responses from viewers.

Many people were touched upon watching the clip, “Welcome to Vietnam,” at its official release ceremony in Hanoi on Monday.

The 8-minute-43-second footage had been made by the ministry in collaboration with Digisun JSC since July last year as a non-profit project to bring Vietnam closer to the world.

It features beautiful landscapes in cities and provinces across the country, including Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Quang Ninh, Ha Giang, Lao Cai, Ninh Binh, Thua Thien – Hue, Da Nang, and Quang Nam.

“Welcome to Vietnam” also introduces Vietnamese culture, as well as the achievements the Southeast Asian country has gained during the last 30 years in order to convey a message about a peaceful, sustainable, humane, and vibrant Vietnam.

It is available in nine languages, including Vietnamese, English, French, Chinese, Russian, Spanish, Portuguese, Japanese, and Arabic.

Director of the video Do Duc Thanh said many professional and amateur filmmakers contributed their footage to the project to create this video.

One of them even gave away a hard drive containing all the documentaries he has filmed during the last five years.

“We understand that patriotism lies in our people’s heart,” Thanh said.

He revealed that the images of Vietnam’s seas and islands were added to the video only two days before the official release, as a filmmaker in the central city of Da Nang had pointed out some room for improvement after he watched the demo version on YouTube.

Director Pham Dong Hong, one of the filmmakers that contributed footage to make the video, said that during his 30 years of filming, he has never been touched as deeply as when he watched “Welcome to Vietnam.”

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A fascinating Vietnam

After viewing the video at the release ceremony in Hanoi, Swedish Ambassador Camilla Mellander told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper that she was fascinated by what is presented in the video.

She also commented that the video was made sophisticatedly to describe the beauty of Vietnam and there are a lot of interesting things to watch like landscapes and world heritage sites.

Vietnam should promote the video on international television channels to attract more tourists, Ambassador Mellander recommended.

Meanwhile Ambassador of the State of Palestine to Vietnam Saadi Salama told Tuoi Tre after watching the video that Vietnam is more beautiful than he has ever imagined.

He added that the work is an important step in promoting Vietnam and its people to the world, saying he highly appreciated the effort of the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other agencies in creating a great video like this.

After “Welcome to Vietnam,” the country should make more thematic videos on traditional festivals, cuisine, costumes, and customs, the ambassador added, suggesting that Vietnam’s embassies in other countries screen the video at Vietnamese traditional festivals to make it better known to the international community.

Agreeing that the images in the footage are beautiful, Peter Cornish, a Londoner who has lived in Vietnam since 2008, however said the video still lacks some typical images like women in white ao dai (Vietnam’s traditional gown) cycling on streets.

He suggested that more scenes about ethnic minorities be added to the clip and the video be curtailed to be shorter and more concise.

Meanwhile, in the eyes of Ross Stewart, the producer of the 48 Hour Film Project in Vietnam, it is fine to use the video for diplomatic purposes or showcase it at tourism exhibitions in other countries, but it should be shorter and focus on a specific topic like nightlife or street cuisine if being used to promote tourism.

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