In the clouds and in the dreamy pine forest
The Soul of the Forest stage at Flamingo Dai Lai (Vinh Phuc) has changed compared to the first season in 2022. The second season will begin on September 28 with the show Wind brings love through the two voices of Huong Tram - Tang Phuc. The seats at this stage have changed, designed with wood with the rhythm and height like in a small stadium. Nearby is a museum of contemporary works, displaying works owned by Flamingo. The organizers of Soul of the Forest said that this is not just a simple music show but a series of multi-layered emotional resort experiences, with pine forests, mild weather, beautiful works of art...
Soul of the Forest, with its combination of music and large pine forest space next to small hills with international sculptures and art exhibitions, is reminiscent of a famous music space in Hanoi, the Monsoon International Music Festival held at Thang Long Imperial Citadel. Starting to "blow" in 2014 under the direction of the general director - musician Quoc Trung, Monsoon opens a new "destination". After 3 seasons, musician Quoc Trung can confidently announce that foreign audiences are booking tickets to travel to Vietnam to watch Monsoon .
The Dreamy Cities music festival, which takes place from afternoon to night in Hanoi, has become a familiar brand with young people.
Another example of music tourism is Dreamy Cities at Yen So Park in Hanoi. In 2023, the April performance of Dreamy Cities in Hanoi lasted 7 hours with 17 artists, bands and 7,000 audiences attending…
Music tourism in Vietnam cannot be mentioned without Ha Anh Tuan. He is considered the "pioneer" of music tourism with the program See Sing Share - Gau in December 2018, and continues to attract tourists to Ninh Binh when organizing shows here. Ha Anh Tuan even brought Vietnamese audiences to Singapore to listen to him sing last June 2024.
As part of the international music market, Vietnam also has its own music tourism stories when big names come to perform. During the time Blackpink performed in Hanoi, the number of visitors flying in to watch the show was huge. The Hanoi Department of Tourism estimated that during the 2 days the group performed at My Dinh National Stadium, the total number of tourists to Hanoi was about 170,000, of which international tourists reached more than 30,000 and domestic tourists reached more than 140,000. Also during those 2 days, hotels around My Dinh Stadium recorded a 20% increase in room occupancy.
What model for Vietnam music tourism?
Dr. Trinh Le Anh (Faculty of Tourism, University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University, Hanoi) said that the music tourism model can be called a travel experience, but in essence it is a long-term experience with a show. “For a long time, the Vietnamese concept was that if you go, you just go to see a show, you only go there during the show time, the longest show only lasts about 3 hours. As for the European and American perspective, people do not just go to see a show, but in essence, they can travel from a very long distance to enjoy their vacation,” said Dr. Le Anh.
Phan Manh Quynh and Van Mai Huong in Soul of the Forest season 1
PHOTO: SOUL OF THE FOREST
That is why, in European and American countries, they often organize weekend camping trips in large spaces, like Yen So Park. The stage can be held both day and night, broken up into small shows. “People can pitch tents, buy tickets for several days, eat, sleep there to enjoy the weekend. That is music tourism,” said Dr. Le Anh. This model, according to Dr. Le Anh, is also the way musician Quoc Trung operates the Monsoon Music Festival, or the way the organizers carry out Dreamy Cities .
The second model for organizing music tourism, according to Dr. Le Anh, is live concerts of star artists. Those are the big shows of Taylor Swift, Blackpink or Ha Anh Tuan, My Tam... “This story only targets the fans of that artist. The vitality of star artist shows is not as long as the music festival model. At the music festival model, people go for a few days, with guests being the whole family, including parents and children. For the next generation, there will be many cities specializing in organizing music tourism every year. This way of organizing will be ideal,” said Dr. Le Anh.
Monsoon Music Festival is a cultural space where generations enjoy moments immersed in music in the heart of Hanoi's ancient relics.
However, Dr. Le Anh believes that star tours have a huge advantage in creating a brand for the destination. “The biggest role of a star like Taylor Swift is to be a destination ambassador, so to speak. Therefore, some big cities in Europe that don’t have many brands invite Taylor to come. In Sweden, a city is even willing to change part of its name to Taylor temporarily for a month. Changing the city’s name to show its welcome to the star is also to create a brand. How that brand is used afterwards is another matter,” said Dr. Le Anh.
However, getting the nod from the stars is not easy. The star crew is very "skilled" in setting conditions with the locality where the concert is planned to be held. Not to mention, they already have strict conditions that are difficult to meet for all destinations. "Taylor Swift's standard is a stadium that can hold at least 60,000 spectators. We don't have a stadium like that. The largest My Dinh Stadium only holds 40,000," said Dr. Le Anh.
Based on the above analysis, Dr. Le Anh believes that welcoming super stars to Vietnam to promote music tourism is difficult, even though when they arrive, the tourism market will be more bustling.
“That direction is very difficult because it requires too much infrastructure. Those stars do not invest in destinations. Therefore, in my opinion, the Yen So park model with Dreamy Cities , Thang Long Imperial Citadel with Monsoon is more suitable while tourism is still good... Moreover, we can do this music festival model regularly. Who knows when Blackpink will return to Vietnam, while we can build our brand,” Dr. Le Anh commented.
Hanoi Department of Tourism estimates that during the 2 days Blackpink performed at My Dinh Stadium, the total number of tourists to Hanoi was more than 170,000.
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