Khanh Hoa (VNA) – The 2017 Nha Trang- Khanh Hoa Sea Festival, themed“Extending the Circle of Friendship”, concluded on June 13 in the centralcoastal province of Khanh Hoa with a special art performance.
Speaking at the event, Vice Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee andhead of the organising board Nguyen Dac Tai said that the festival was acultural feast, offering a kaleidoscope of artistic, cultural and sporting activitiesand bringing domestic and international friends closer to the province.
During the festival, Nha Trang was buzzing with events like a street festival, salanganenest festival, cuisine festival, Ca Ong (Whale) festival, swimming contests,football tournaments, volleyball competitions and a bicycle parade, amongothers.
According to Nguyen Khac Ha, Director of the provincial Department of Cultureand Sports, good weather, food safety, social order and environmental hygienecontributed to the event’s success.
The four-day event welcomed five international art troupes from Spain, France,the Republic of Korea, Australia and Russia, as well as troupes from theCentral Highlands province of Dak Lak, central Thua Thien-Hue province and theMekong Delta province of Bac Lieu, Ha added.
Some 120,000 foreign and domestic tourists flocked to the city during thefestival.
On the occasion, Khanh Hoa province presented certificates of merit to 25enterprises who provided more than 18 billion VND (793,600 USD) for the event.
The festival has been held biennially since 2003.
The province aims to welcome 5.5 million tourists this year, a year-on-yearrise of 17 percent, including 1.7 million foreigners, according to the VietnamNational Administration of Tourism.
In the first three months of this year, the province received more than 1.1million tourists, up 26 percent from the same time last year, and earned 3.4trillion VND (149.8 million USD) in tourism revenue. Foreign tourists arrivalsreached 500,000, a surge of 85 percent year-on-year, mostly from China andRussia.
The locality is seeking a government recognition of Nha Trang as a marineeco-tourism urban area and northern Cam Ranh peninsula as a national tourismsite.-VNA