HÀ NỘI — Huế Festival 2020 will be another chance for tourists to explore Huế – a city full of attractions, said city leaders, who will host the international festival between April 1 and 6 next year.

“When talking about heritage and the ancient imperial citadel, people often think of something old, boring, and dull,” said Nguyễn Dung, deputy chairman of Huế City’s People’s Committee at a press conference on the festival held in Hà Nội on December 17. “But in this festival, we hope visitors will find a new Huế filled with romantic beauty. They will find a Huế with profound values of spiritual culture, cuisine, poetry, music and painting.”

Artist from the Flying Fruit Circus of Australia's National Youth rehearse for the festival. Photos courtesy of the organisers

Dung said through hosting the biennial international festival for 20 years, the organisers have always followed the theme “cultural heritage with integration and development”.

The festival will include six main programmes, including the opening ceremony, an áo dài (traditional long dress) festival, street carnival, cuisine festival, traditional music show and performance of Trịnh Công Sơn’s songs.

The activities will take place in Huế’s inner citadel complex, An Định Palace, Ngọ Môn Square, Trịnh Công Sơn Park, Dã Viên Bridge Park and other community stages throughout the city.

As many as 20 art troupes from various countries and territories like South Korea, Japan, Singapore, China, Israel, Cuba, and the US have registered to perform at the event.

Besides art shows, community cultural activities will take place, like a kite festival, science festival, beer festival, international trade fair, VNExpress Marathon Huế, and meeting of international backpackers.

An ASEAN Night will feature unique traditional costumes, contemporary fashion and music of countries in the region.

Acapella Backtrack band from the US will take part in the festival.

The festival will also include various environmental protection activities like “Green Sunday” and “Building a Green, Clean and Light City” to make Huế cleaner for residents and tourists.

“This is a chance to advertise Huế’s culture, Vietnamese culture as well as a chance to exchange with regional and international cultures,” said Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Nguyễn Minh Vũ. “Huế Festival has become a professional event, with high-quality advertising and drawing the participation of art troupes from all over the world.”

Huỳnh Tiến Đạt, director of Huế Festival Centre, said over 20 years, the city has achieved considerable advances in tourism services.

“Infrastructure for tourism [number of rooms] has increased ten times,” he said. “In 11 months of 2019, Thừa Thiên Huế Province received nearly 4.8 million tourists, nearly 50 per cent of which were foreigners mostly from Europe, a 7 per cent increase over the past year.”

Income from tourism this year in the province is estimated to reach some VNĐ4.9 trillion (US$211 million), a 10 per cent against the last year, he said. VNS