According to statistics from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Vietnam currently has more than 8,000 large and small festivals, an average of one festival every hour. But are the festivals mainly performances and theatrical?
International tourists enjoy bread at a festival in Ho Chi Minh City - Photo: QUANG DINH
Festivals from hamlets, wards to provinces, cities and central levels are all said to be events serving tourism. But tourism festivals seem to be being inflated and abused.
"Ceremony" must have rituals and offerings. Events without the "Ceremony" part are called festivals or "Festivals...".
Currently, some localities are gradually correcting the names such as "Da Lat Flower Festival" (Lam Dong); "Hue Festival " (Thua Thien Hue); "Salt Festival " (Bac Lieu); "Ninh Binh Festival"; "Tourism Festivals", "Southern Cuisine and Traditional Cake Week" (HCMC), "Ao Dai Week" (Vietnam Women's Union)...
From a tourism perspective, these are economic events, typical products to promote and build brands. Therefore, we must change our thinking to have a suitable approach, taking tourists as the main subject, inviting tourists to actively participate. The new festivals today are mainly performances, grandiose staged performances, live broadcast, performed only once, tourists are the audience; very wasteful.
Festivals and events are not "sinful", but the question is whether guests can participate or not?
Traditional festivals need to be screened and classified according to their nature and level. Festivals need to be stable so that visitors can plan their attendance. There should be space and content to invite visitors to actively participate.
For example, with the "Ao Dai Week" event, guests are invited to participate in the performance and parade. Visitors wearing Ao Dai receive a discount on services.
Other events are similar. Food festivals need to organize more Cooking Classes, instructing how to make cakes and prepare dishes. Competitions, Guinness culinary processing is public, inviting guests to try, buy as gifts. Instructions on how to make and release self-destructing lanterns (sky lanterns, flower lanterns) to protect the environment...
We also need to think about socializing festivals more. The government only creates conditions, supports policies and bidding procedures. Businesses understand the needs of tourists, know how to effectively utilize investment costs to create PR effects and build brands. Use convention centers, fairs and stadiums to organize events instead of the current streets and parks.
Except for mass events, which mainly serve the people, festivals with reasonable fees such as fireworks festivals, marathons... must develop additional content and values for tourists to enjoy.
In 2024, Vietnam tourism will welcome 17.6 million visitors (population of nearly 102 million); ranking 3rd in ASEAN after Thailand with 35 million visitors (population of 66 million), Malaysia with 25 million visitors (population of nearly 35 million). Singapore with 16.5 million visitors (population of nearly 6 million); Laos with 8 million visitors, exceeding 2019 by nearly 3 million visitors (population of nearly 9 million)...
Vietnam tourism has a lot of potential to attract tourists if we have the right organization and appropriate communication and promotion campaigns. Society changes and so does the tourism industry to create a positive difference. If we hesitate, we are slow and backward.
Same goes for every industry, not just tourism.
Source: https://tuoitre.vn/hon-8-000-le-hoi-lon-nho-nhung-da-phan-san-khau-hoa-20250221132458853.htm
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