The eighthevent of its kind, the biennial festival will serve as a venue forancient capital cities and typical cultural areas in Vietnam and theworld.
Themed “Cultural Heritage with Integration andDevelopment”, the festival is part of the East Asian-Latin Americancultural exchange forum held by Vietnam’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Accordingto Vice Chairman of the Thua Thien-Hue provincial People’s CommitteeNgo Hoa, head of the event’s management board, the festival willcontribute to promoting the locality’s socio-economic development.
Forthe first time, 15-minute firework performances will take place at theopening and closing ceremonies of the festival, he said.
Famous French photographer Sebastienne Laval will exhibit his photos ofethnic minority groups of Vietnam at Truong Tien Bridge during thefestival.
The festival will include an Ao dai showand exhibitions featuring Hue kite flying, calligraphy, food demos andstreet performances, among others.
Vietnam will, for the first time, welcome world famous guests such asBrazil’s Sururu Na Roda band, Japan’s Bati-Holic drum troupe, and thePalestinian folk dance collective Asayel to the event.
Nha Nhac – the royal court music and dance of Hue which has been namedby UNESCO as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity - will behighlighted at the festival. A similar variant of this elegant music ispopular in Japan, where it is known as “Gegaku”, is also expected tocharm audiences.
Trade fairs, conferences andtourism promotion activities will also be held in the framework of theevent. Among those will be the ASEAN+3 Ministerial Meeting on Cultureand Fine Arts from April 16-21.
Hoa added France’sPoitou – Charentes region, which has assisted the locality in organisingthe Hue Festival since 2000, is still a major partner of this year’sevent.
Apart from the event, the region has also supported thecentral province in improving the quality of human resources in thetourism field, promoting cultural heritage preservation andinternational cooperation, and developing eco-tourism.
The 2014 Hue Festival is expected to attract 200,000 visitors, half of them will be foreigners.
Preparationsfor the festival have been basically completed. The provincial HotelAssociation has undertaken to supply 526 accommodation facilities withmore than 10,000 rooms to serve tourists during the event. Eleven hotelsin the city have also registered to provide 1,000 free rooms worth onebillion VND for the festival.-VNA
