'Very Nice!' Kazakhstan uses Borat to woo tourists

Kazakhstan has found itself the center of the joke once again with the release of another movie featuring fictional journalist Borat.

However, this time the ex-Soviet state is embracing the joke and has adopted Borat's catch phrase to try to attract tourists.

Adam Reed reports.

The movie return of Borat - the bumbling fictional journalist from Kazakhstan - is being embraced by the vast Central Asian country... after it adopted one of the characters most famous catchphrases to attract tourists.

It's a change from the response to the first film in 2006, which caused anger in Kazakhstan over what it saw as an insult to their national character.

"Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan," is a follow-up, which features the same sexist and racist character created by British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen.

It was released last week on streaming service Amazon Prime.

Now a slick video has been released by the Kazakh tourism board featuring the best of what the country has to offer - and includes a series of foreign tourists using Borat’s signature phrase “Very Nice!” to signal their appreciation for what they are seeing.

Like many countries this year Kazakhstan has been hard hit by travel and tourism restrictions.

The feeling amongst Kazakh officials on this occasion is that if you can’t beat them, join them and that protesting against the film would only serve to generate more publicity and profits for the film's makers.