Da Nang broadcasts ad videos on BBC

The broadcast follows a $100,000 tourism ad deal signed by the Da Nang Tourism Promotion Center earlier this month with Global Book Corporation, an official media representative of the BBC World News.

Under the agreement, a 30-second clip on famous tourist attractions in Da Nang that highlight the coastal city’s unique values will be broadcast four times each day, from June 5-30, on the television channel for the Asia-Pacific region.

Municipal authorities said the broadcast is expected to boost the image of Da Nang among a wider foreign audience and revitalize the city’s tourism sector, which has been badly impacted by the coronavirus pandemic.

My Khe, voted one of the world's most beautiful beaches by Forbes, the Golden Bridge on Ba Na Hills and Son Tra Peninsula, home to Vietnam's largest population of the endangered red-shanked douc langurs (Pygathrix nemaeus) and unique festivals like the world famous International Fireworks Festival will be featured in the video.

The Golden Bridge is a top tourist destination in Vietnam. Photo by Shutterstock/Anh Du.

In a similar move, Hanoi last year had 15 short films on city attractions aired on CNN across the Asia-Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, North America, and South Asia. The city had signed a $4-million tourism promotion deal with CNN for the 2019-2024 period.

In mid April, the two sides agreed to temporarily suspend tourism promotion ads on the American news channel until the Covid-19 crisis passes.

While Vietnam eased its social distancing measures on April 23 and most tourist destinations have reopened since, the country remains closed to foreigners entry, except for special cases, and has suspended international commercial fights as parts to contain the Covid-19 pandemic.

The country is seeking measures to revive the hit-hard tourism industry and planning to partially reopen doors to safe destinations that have had no new Covid-19 cases for at least 30 days.

Tokyo, Seoul, mainland China's Guangzou City, Taiwan and Laos are among Asian destinations being considered for the early reopening of international flights, the government said Wednesday.

Due to border closures and flight suspensions, Vietnam's number of foreign visitors in the first five months was 3.73 million, a 48.8 percent year-on-year decline.

The country has gone nearly two months without community transmission of the disease.