QUẢNG NAM — Deputy Prime Minister Vũ Đức Đam yesterday lauded the central province of Quảng Nam for building itself into one of the favourite tourism destinations in the country, overcoming several difficulties and advantages.

Speaking at the opening ceremony of the sixth Quảng Nam Heritage Festival in Tam Thanh Commune, he said the event had become a confluence of national and international culture, and a rendezvous for international friends.

He said the efforts made by the province to promote sustainable development of tourism over several decades was laudable.

The Deputy PM thanked UNESCO and other international organisations for their support in preserving the precious heritage sites of Hội An Town, Mỷ Sơn Sanctuary and the world biosphere reserve of Chàm Island-Hội An.

Đinh Văn Thu, Chaiman of the Quang Nam People’s Committee, said the festival had become the province’s biggest cultural event.

This year, the week-long festival aimed to connect the heritages of Việt Nam and the world, he said.   

A choir from Australia and a dance troupe from Orsan City in South Korea added sparkle to the opening ceremony with perfect performances, exhorting thousands of local residents and tourists to join them.

Also yesterday, local painters and volunteers created 2km-long road of painted coracles as an exhibition for the festival.

“The road of painted coracles will feature daily life in the fishing village as well as the culture of Tam Thanh Commune,” vice chairman of the Tam Kỳ  People’s Committee, Nguyễn Minh Nam, told Viet Nam News..

“The fishing village introduces the first ever community-based art space serving for tourism in Việt Nam. Artists had set up hundreds of coracle with watercolour paintings along coastal road and the Trường Giang River bank during the festival,” he said.

He said the fishing village, with a population of 6,000, has become popular in the country and abroad because of the murals project in Trung Thanh Hamlet, marking it as a favourite eco-tourism site in the province.

Last year, the moss-covered walls of the village was decorated with colourful murals by the Korea Foundation Community Art Exchange Programme.

The murals, painted on the walls of 100 houses in the village, has portraits of villagers, local landscapes and regional panoramas.

An exhibition on the nation’s ocean heritage opened on the beach in Tam Thanh Commune yesterday.

The festival, which is held every five years, hosts 35 cultural events in Hội An, mountainous areas and beaches of Quảng Nam Province. It will run until next Wednesday. — VNS