The boost that helps Da Nang bounce back after the pandemic
Tomorrow night (July 8), the high-class match for the championship of DIFF 2023 between the two teams France and Italy will take place at the shooting range on the west bank of the Han River located on Bach Dang Street. At this point, the artillery site is completely ready, both teams promise to bring performances with new, surprising, eye-catching and extremely unique artillery effects to the audience.
According to forecasts, Da Nang will welcome more than 63,000 visitors staying during the final night of the 2023 International Fireworks Festival, including about 19,000 international visitors. The city's room occupancy rate is expected to reach about 75%. Statistics from the previous 4 competition nights showed that the number of guests staying also increased sharply, reaching nearly 240,000, attracting up to 83,000 international visitors, bringing the city's hotel room occupancy rate to about 70%. Due to the high demand for spectators at the stands, the Da Nang City People's Committee has allowed Sun Group to add stands C and B5 with a total of more than 1,700 seats.
DIFF 2023 is the most prominent event of the year in Da Nang
This picture is in stark contrast to just 3 months ago, when a series of hotels in Da Nang were struggling to overcome a wave of mass sales due to not being able to maintain occupancy rates at a level that would sustain operations. So what is so attractive about fireworks that attracts tens of thousands of domestic and foreign tourists to the "livable city"?
Still moved when recalling the wonderful moments from the opening performance of the Australian and Italian teams on the third competition night (June 16), Ms. Phan Thi Lan Huong (from Hanoi) said that this was the first time she had seen fireworks live in Da Nang. "Fireworks combined with music made me feel more emotional, especially when watching live. I immediately introduced it to my friends, they must come to Da Nang to experience this feeling directly. Only when watching live with music and this atmosphere can you feel the "satisfaction", the wonderfulness that cannot always be had", Ms. Huong excitedly said.
Ravi Capeles from New York, USA, shared that he was truly "overwhelmed" by the colorful fireworks and vibrant music. "You can't get a second chance to see such beautiful performances. This is my first time in Vietnam. I am on a world tour and Vietnam is a stopover. Initially, I planned to stay here for 6 days, but I heard about the international fireworks festival so I stayed longer. It was really worth it because the festival is wonderful. I am glad I decided to stay here longer. This is really a very interesting stop on my journey", said Ravi Capeles.
Mr. Le Trung Chinh, Chairman of the People's Committee of Da Nang City, affirmed that the city considers the international fireworks festival an event that attracts tourists. Therefore, the People's Committee of Da Nang City has paid great attention to this activity in recent times.
"Units and businesses have prepared the event very carefully, mobilized human resources and finances to ensure the success of the festival. Besides the international fireworks festival, Da Nang also has many exciting sideline events, attracting tourists to watch and highly appreciate the efficiency and quality. This year, the city hopes to welcome 1.5 million visitors. This number is completely within the city's ability to meet the needs of the number of visitors coming to watch the fireworks as well as visit other tourist attractions," the leader of the Da Nang People's Committee confidently affirmed.
The road to the "fireworks capital of the world"
Before 2008, people in Da Nang as well as all localities across the country were only familiar with short fireworks displays on holidays and Tet with a maximum duration of 15 minutes. The project for an international fireworks competition (DIFC) was born with the first goal of allowing people and tourists to fully enjoy artistic fireworks as well as creating a cultural and tourism highlight for Da Nang. Since then, international fireworks have become a "specialty" only in Da Nang and later became the Da Nang International Fireworks Festival (DIFF) held annually in June - July.
2008 - the first year of DIFF, Da Nang welcomed more than 1.2 million tourists, earning more than 810 billion VND in revenue. By 2019, Da Nang welcomed 8.6 million tourists, earning nearly 31,000 billion VND, an increase of 38 times after more than 10 years. According to a survey by the booking platform Booking.com, one of the largest travel e-commerce sites in the world today, Da Nang holds the leading position and is the most searched domestic destination this summer. One of the reasons given is thanks to DIFF 2023.
In June 2016, the People's Committee of Da Nang City officially assigned Sun Group to participate in organizing DIFF 2017, marking a step in the socialization of the organization and also a way to make DIFF more professional and modern. From the place where people and tourists only knew how to put plastic chairs or sit on the sidewalks on both sides of the Han River to watch fireworks; the speaker system was placed inside the stands so the audience on both sides of the river could not hear the music, now a grand stand with more than 5,000 seats with unique stage art cluster design ideas, along with modern sound, lighting, laser effects systems... has brought DIFF to the world.
Looking back on the process of accompanying Da Nang to organize 5 DIFF seasons, Mr. Nguyen Van Binh, Chairman of Sun Group Central Region, affirmed: Da Nang International Fireworks Festival has become a unique brand, creating attraction and appeal for Da Nang tourism. Every summer, the people of the city are eager and waiting for an event that has the potential to spread as well as bring new excitement. Therefore, after the pandemic is over, Sun Group is determined to bring back the 2023 International Fireworks Festival, in order to maintain and enhance the brand "Asia's leading city of events and festivals".
"To organize DIFF 2023, we have to spend a huge amount of money - hundreds of billions of VND and the revenue from ticket sales cannot compensate. But with the responsibility and pioneering role of a business that associates its development with the development of the city, we are determined and make efforts to accompany the organization of the event. Through DIFF 2023, the images of a friendly, dynamic, developing Da Nang and tourism on the path of recovery and development will be widely spread to domestic and international tourists," Mr. Nguyen Van Binh expected.
Ms. Nadia Shakira Wong, Director of Global 2000 Fireworks Consulting Company, the producer of DIFF 2023 event, assessed that with unique fireworks displays through the DIFF seasons, Da Nang has been and is one of the fireworks capitals in the world. However, to become a leading capital, three factors must be met. The first is infrastructure, how easy is it for tourists to book air tickets to Da Nang, are there many flights to Da Nang? The second is people, that is, do tourists feel that the people here are friendly and lovable so that they can come back many times. The third is technological improvement. Can Da Nang form a fireworks tourism ecosystem with a fixed grandstand or a fireworks square with utilities and ancillary works... or not?
"If realized, Da Nang will become the first city in the world to have a fireworks ecosystem, becoming the world's leading fireworks capital," said Ms. Nadia Shakira Wong.
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