The central city of Hue is gearing up for its biennial festival,which promises a diverse programme of performances and activities acrossa week of celebrations.
Held from April 7-15this year, the festival will be the city's biggest cultural event, saidvice chairman of Thua Thien-Hue Province People's Committee and head ofthe festival organising committee Ngo Hoa.
"Thisyear will mark the 7th festival that the province has held every twoyears since 2000," said Hoa. "It has become known as one of the biggestcultural events not only for Hue , but for the whole country.
"The festival is also an opportunity to promote tourism in theprovince and let the world know more about the city of Hue . It'salso an event to honour historical and cultural monuments of the formerRoyal Capital city as well its intangible heritage."
A main stage will be built in the Royal Citadel, which will host theopening ceremony that features a music and dance art performance titledRoyal Citadel Night.
A series of stages will be installed outside the Royal Citadel soon for community arts performances.
According to the organising committee, a music and dance performancenamed Oriental Night, which was introduced in 2010, will be staged againat the Thai Hoa Palace .
The ao dai(Vietnamese traditional long dress) show will again be a major event atthe festival. New shows were created to keep the festival fresh."
The city will also host the Nam Giao religious ritual, which was heldduring the Nguyen dynasty (1802-1945), on April 8 as part of the HueFestival.
Nguyen Dinh Chieu Street alongthe Huong (Perfume) River bank will be reserved as a pedestrian streetfeaturing a range of cuisine.
The city's hotels, with a capacity of 10,000 rooms, are bracing for a large number of tourist arrivals.
Thua Thien-Hue Province plans to host around 2.5million foreign and domestic tourists this year, generating a totalrevenue of 2,500 billion VND (over 113 million USD) for the provincialtourism sector.
According to the festival organising committee, 36 art troupes from 22 countries have registered to take part in the festival.-VNA