Comrade Le Truong Hien Hoa, Deputy Director of Ho Chi Minh City Department of Tourism, had discussions and shared with the People's Army Electronic Newspaper about the festival activities.

Comrade Le Truong Hien Hoa, Deputy Director of Ho Chi Minh City Department of Tourism.

Reporter (PV): The first Ho Chi Minh City River Festival has created a strong attraction and spread. Can you share about this?

Comrade Le Truong Hien Hoa : That's right, the event has created a great spread, becoming a mark, a cultural event in the life and development context of Ho Chi Minh City. Along the rivers, the locations where the festival's activities are held always attract the attention and experiences of the people and tourists.

A large number of people and tourists enthusiastically cheered on the traditional boat racing teams competing on the river; enjoying the special products and cuisine. Experiential tours on the river also attracted many participants. It can be said that the River Festival was organized for the first time by the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee, with the participation and coordination of many departments, branches, localities and units, bringing many interesting, new and impressive experiences to the people and tourists about the typical river city of Ho Chi Minh City.

PV: Can you share the special programs of the festival?

Comrade Le Truong Hien Hoa : In the series of unique cultural-entertainment-artistic-sports activities combined with experiential activities, tourism, aviation and trade stimulus programs, the special highlight is the Art Program with the theme "The River Tells Stories", taking place on the evening of August 6.

The program will recreate the formation of nature and people through the periods of Saigon - Gia Dinh - Cho Lon - Ho Chi Minh City in 5 chapters: Reclamation - Building the citadel - On the wharf, under the boat - Prosperous commercial port - Brilliant riverside city with the participation of nearly 700 actors and folk artists along with a team of directors, experts, consultants, and leading artists in the art industry.

The story is told through a combination of art forms from folk to contemporary, music, dance, lighting, cinema combined with modern performance technology, taking place on a Saigon River that has gone through many ups and downs of history.

Furthermore, the activity “Space on the wharf, under the boat” recreated at many locations, rivers and canals has also created attraction and impression for tourists. Along the canals are flower boats, river products are exchanged and bought and sold. On the shore are booths displaying agricultural products, specialties, typical cuisine and artistic activities such as making figurines, calligraphy...

Through this activity, we aim to recreate the early trading space, develop unique tourism products associated with culture and history, diversify tourism products, and attract domestic and foreign tourists to Ho Chi Minh City.

PV: What creates the vitality and appeal of the festival, sir?

Comrade Le Truong Hien Hoa : To have strong attraction and spread, first of all, it comes from the potential, history, and culture of the river city of Ho Chi Minh City, which is very large, rich, and unique, throughout the history of formation and development. Next is the policy and implementation ideas of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee and the departments, branches, localities, and coordinating units with very high determination and enthusiasm.

Based on the direction of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee, the Department of Tourism has coordinated with the Department of Culture - Sports, Department of Industry and Trade, districts, towns and Thu Duc city, and coordinating units to implement the best program contents, bringing experiential values, spiritual and cultural values, spreading pride in the history and characteristics of the river city of Ho Chi Minh City to the city's people; helping to promote the typical cultural and historical values ​​as well as the economic and social development orientations of Ho Chi Minh City...

A team of surfers perform with the national flag on the Saigon River.

PV: Ho Chi Minh City is characterized as a river city, with a dense system of canals connecting large rivers and the sea. How do you evaluate the potential for exploiting waterway tourism?

Comrade Le Truong Hien Hoa : Ho Chi Minh City has great potential for waterway tourism, associated with more than 1,000km of river routes. Moreover, it is the length of history and culture of a river city spanning more than 325 years that creates the unique and special features of a river city.

The city has beautiful inner-city canals, bearing the historical imprint of many periods. Therefore, the tourism industry is determined to build tourism products not only on the Saigon River but also on inner-city canals, connecting with the diverse historical and cultural relic system of Ho Chi Minh City.

Recently, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Tourism has also implemented many solutions to connect tourism, especially with 13 provinces in the Mekong Delta to create river tourism products, regional tourism products to serve domestic and international tourists.

In this River Festival, Ho Chi Minh City is determined to create a breakthrough in introducing and implementing stimulus programs with the cooperation and coordination of 4 key units: Department of Tourism, Department of Industry and Trade, Department of Culture - Sports, airlines, introducing waterway tourism products, and tours to stimulate tourism in Ho Chi Minh City.

The city government and the tourism industry of Ho Chi Minh City also clearly see the great potential of the characteristics of a river city, and are determined to develop tourism types associated with this characteristic in the coming time. Through the development of river tourism activities, it will contribute to spreading the pride of the city's people, preserving and maintaining cultural values, preserving and promoting the value of the river ecosystem, canals, etc., towards building Ho Chi Minh City into a river city rich in cultural identity and civilization.

TRUNG KIEN (perform)

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