ĐÀ NẴNG — Việt Nam and Poland will perform in the curtain-raiser of the 2018 Đà Nẵng International Fireworks Festival on the central city’s Hàn River on April 30.

Director of the city’s Culture and Sports Department, Huỳnh Văn Hùng made the announcement at a press conference yesterday, stressing that the event has helped the city become a rendezvous for international friends and a ‘must see’ destination in central Việt Nam.

“The city has successfully built its brand as a ‘fireworks festival city’ since the first edition in 2008. The event, the country’s biggest fireworks competition, was promoted as a festival in 2017 with double the number of teams – from four in 2008 to eight in 2017,” Hùng said.

“We hope the festival will promote Đà Nẵng as a top destination and event site in Asia.”  

Defending champions Italy and Hong Kong (China) will perform on June 2, while Sweden and Portugal will light up the night of June 9.

The two best teams will be selected for the final on June 30, where the winner of the festival will be chosen.

According to director of the festival, Đỗ Thanh Hải, the festival, entitled ‘the Legend of Bridges", will see teams showing off the beauty of bridges, featuring the culture of each country.

“The fireworks performances will be based on the image of bridges that participating teams bring to the event. It depicts culture, people, history and landscape from eight countries and territories,” Hải said.

“The five performances of the festival will introduce topics of Love, Time, Happiness, Aspiration and Friendship. Meanwhile, cultural activities will take place during the two-month long festival including carnivals, flashmobs, music performances and cuisine,” he said.

General director of Sun Group, the festival organiser, Đặng Minh Trường said the festival will begin a series of cultural events of the year, and promote summer holidays in the beach city.

Trường hoped that the festival will soon join in the International Festival Forum-UNESCO, and Đà Nẵng would become a top global tourist destination.

Last year, Italy’s Martarello team won the title after a spectacular night performance on the Hàn River.

It was the third time an Italian team won the contest, with the Parente team winning in 2011 and 2012.

In 2013, the US team Melrose Pyrotechnics took first spot. Canada’s Davis Whysall took the top prize in 2008, while China’s Liuyang Dancing won in 2009. France’s Jacques Couturier Organisation won in 2010.

According to organiers, the event attracted more than 1.3 million tourists visiting the city during the fireworks festival between April and June last year.

Last year the city hosted 6.7 million tourists, with 2.3 million foreigners. — VNS