Festival tourism market now being tapped

May 11, 2017 | 14:43

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While other Asian countries have national festivals to attract foreign travelers, Vietnam has only a few that have been marketed well.

Festivals take place throughout the year in different localities, but they are not organized in a professional way to achieve international stature.

Meanwhile, tourism sites do not pay appropriate attention to festival tourism, though they can see the number of tourists increases in festival seasons.

Da Nang, with one of the most beautiful beaches on the planet, is a rendezvous for travelers thanks to the Da Nang International Firework Competition (DIFC).

However, as Huynh Van Hung, director of the Da Nang City Culture & Sports Department, said, since DIFC is a competition, letting off fireworks is the only activity of the event, while there was no extra activity on the occasion.

DIFC only lasted two days and is organized once every two years. According to Ngo Quang Vinh, director of the Da Nang Tourism Department, a survey in 2015 found that after a firework competition, the Han Market’s management board reported a twofold increase in revenue.

Da Nang has changed its approach. Having realized the great potential of festival tourism, the city’s authorities decided to turn DIFC into DIFF (Da Nang International Firework Festival) this year, which lasts from April 30 to June 24.

As such, Vietnam, for the first time has a festival lasting throughout the summer.

This is the biggest firework festival in SE Asia with five places for firework performances and a series of associated events, which all have made Da Nang busy throughout the summer.

Da Nang hopes it would become an attractive destination point for about 2 million travelers in summer thanks to the ‘firework city’ brand.

Among tourism complexes, Sun World Ba Na Hills can best exploit the potential of festivals to attract travelers. Visitors to the leading resort in Vietnam in any season can enjoy the festive atmosphere.

In spring, Ba Na is brilliant with the colors of hundreds of flowers in Spring Flower Festival. In summer, the Wine Festival and beer- B'Festival are held. In autumn and winter, visitors will be able to enjoy the Halloween Festival and Christmas season.

In 2016, the resort received 2 million visitors.