Thousands flock to Ha Long’s first-ever winter festival

Thousands of visitors flocked to Ha Long City in the northern province of Quang Ninh on the New Year’s Day (January 1) for the Winter Carnival, the first of its kind held in the province.
Thousands flock to Ha Long’s first-ever winter festival ảnh 1A highlight of the Winter Carnival is an open stage with the World Natural Heritage Site of Ha Long Bay in the background where more than 100 cruise ships parading back and forth.(Photo: VNA)

Quang Ninh (VNA) – Thousands of visitors flockedto Ha Long City in the northern province of Quang Ninh on the New Year’s Day(January 1) for the Winter Carnival, the first of its kind held in theprovince.

One of the event’s highlights was an open stage with theWorld Natural Heritage Site of Ha Long Bay in the background where more than100 cruise ships parading back and forth. In addition, the audiences were alsothrilled by performances of helicopters, seaplanes and paragliders in the sky overhead.

The carnival parade featured six performance sections,expressing the theme of “Ha Long – the aspiration of flying dragons,” duringwhich performers in winter festival costumes showed off their Ha Long sambadance moves.

Thousands flock to Ha Long’s first-ever winter festival ảnh 2The carnival parade features six performance sections, during which performers in winter festival costumes show off their Ha Long samba dance moves. (Photo: VNA)

Visitors were also wowed by a wide range of performanceswhich showcase the typical cultural and tourism attractions of the northeasternprovince, along with sampling delicious cuisine and discovering interestingtourism products at the carnival.

Organised by the Tuan Chau Group, the carnival aimed to offervisitors a new experience in Ha Long and help diversify tourism products in theprovince during the off-peak season.

Thousands flock to Ha Long’s first-ever winter festival ảnh 3Performers take to the street during the carnival parade. (Photo: VNA)

Total visitors to Quang Ninh, a tourism magnet in Vietnam,this year are estimated at 8.8 million, down 37 percent from 2019. Of these,some 536,000 were foreigners, a year-on-year decline of 90.7 percent.

The province is looking to attract about 10 million visitorsin 2021, according to the provincial Tourism Department./.
VNA

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