Will bring 'Saigontourist Group's Food and Culture Festival' abroad

Các giá trị truyền thống, nét đẹp văn hóa được giới thiệu tại Lễ hội văn hóa ẩm thực, món ngon Saigontourist Group 2024 thu hút du khách quốc tế - Ảnh: H.K. — Traditional values and cultural beauty introduced at the Saigontourist Group 2024 Food and Culture Festival attract international tourists - Photo: HK

After four days of opening to the public at maximum capacity, on the evening of March 31, the Saigontourist Group 2024 Food and Culture Festival organized by Saigon Tourist Corporation (Saigontourist Group) concluded with record numbers.

It is estimated that more than 60,000 tickets have been issued. Both domestic and international tourists as well as many overseas Vietnamese have come, at times the number of visitors is too large compared to the outdoor space of Van Thanh tourist area.

The number of visitors in 2024 is 1.5 times higher than the festival held in 2023. Notably, two days before the festival opened to the public, the number of pre-sold tickets reached 10,000, nearly 3 times the number of pre-sold tickets for the 2022 festival and nearly double the number of pre-sold tickets for the 2023 festival.

"The value that the Saigontourist Group 2024 Food and Culture Festival brings is even greater than the statistics. It is the emotions, satisfaction, and love that diners have for this event," said Mr. Pham Huy Binh - Chairman of Saigontourist Group, Head of the festival's program steering committee. share.

Visitors had the opportunity to discover more than 400 delicious and unique dishes from the three regions of the North, Central and South, while immersing themselves in the traditional cultural and artistic space, interacting with artisans to learn how to make 50 types of traditional cakes, and reliving childhood memories with folk games that seemed to have been lost over time.

One of the new features of this year's festival is the contest "Top 10 must-try dishes at the Saigontourist Group 2024 Food and Culture Festival".

Số người tham gia lễ hội tăng qua các năm cho thấy ban tổ chức đã tạo được sự hấp dẫn, uy tín với người dân, du khách - Ảnh: H.K. — The number of festival participants has increased over the years, showing that the organizers have created attraction and prestige with locals and tourists - Photo: HK

This is considered a suggestion for diners to easily find and choose dishes from more than 400 dishes at the festival. Satisfying the voting criteria, the dishes must be delicious, attractive, beautifully decorated and especially must have the standard local and regional flavors, which were highly appreciated by the judges.

In addition, the organizing committee also judged the most impressive booths among more than 40 booths of more than 40 units participating in this year's festival.

Before this year's festival, in two editions held in 2022 and 2023, the Saigontourist Group Food and Culture Festival was honored to be voted by the World Culinary Awards as "Asia's Most Unique Food Festival 2022" and "Asia's Most Unique Food Festival 2023".

Notably, for the first time, a representative of the Vietnamese culinary festival was honored to receive the award "World's Best Food Festival 2023", which was presented in Dubai, United Arab Emirates in October 2023.

With this success, representatives from many provinces and cities attended the festival to consult on the organization model for their localities in the near future.

Mr. Pham Huy Binh said that after the success of three festivals, the organizing committee plans to raise the Saigontourist Group Food and Culture Festival to an international level. And it is expected to bring the festival abroad to serve overseas Vietnamese, contributing to promoting tourism in Ho Chi Minh City in particular and Vietnam tourism in general.