Kite Festivals organized specially for children
For every season, there is a festival
The restoration, conservation and development of festivals have been of great significance in social, humane and aesthetic aspects. This helps retain the national identity. Many festivals in Hue have been used for tourism and service purposes, especially after the success of 2000 Hue Festival and 2005 Festival of Hue Traditional Crafts. The combination between festivals and tourism has created an advantage and elevated the cultural tourism of the ancient capital.
It is asserted at the 2021 National Culture Conference that “culture lifts its light for the nation”. It is the foundation to elevate festivals to a worthier position. If this policy is properly implemented, the festivals will create opportunities for better quality of people’s living and for the development of economy and society.
Dr. Tran Dinh Hang, Director of VICAS in Hue, said that cultural tourism through festivals is the appropriate choice to develop tourist products in Hue. Programs of festival tourism have potential attractions that bear the peculiarities of the local culture. The form of festival tourism will help diversify tourist products and better their quality because it taps into the advantages of cultural factors in developing Hue tourism.
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Mr. Huynh Tien Dat, Director of Center for Hue Festivals – the host of “Four Seasons of Festivals” – revealed that some festivals typical of the community will be selected in the programs of the “Four Seasons of Festivals”. The activities in the series will be logically arranged across the year to make tourist products diverse.
He also added that the Hue folk festivals will be dominant in Spring. The festivals include Huyen-Tran Temple Festival, Thu-Le Wrestling Festival, Sinh Village Wrestling Festival, Festival of fairy swinging and Festival of boat racing.
In summer, there are Hue Festivals (in the even years) and Festivals of Hue Traditional Crafts (in the odd years). These festivals have been organized many times within the international scope and have established their prestige.
The Fall with the holiday of National Independence Day will take cuisine as the theme for festivals with the intention of promoting “Hue – the capital of gastronomy”. The organization will be divided according to types and customers.
The festival of music will be in winter. The spotlight of this season will be Christmas and New Year. The management of time and place, and the arrangement of programs and contents will vary depending on the seasonal appropriateness and the customer demands.
According to Mr. Huynh Tien Dat, the organization of “Four Seasons of Festivals” will be different from previous festivals. These festivals not only enrich local cultural life but also enable visitors to involve in the festivals. Hue Festival will also have some changes in organizing protocols in order to serve the community better.
Plans for “Four Seasons of Festivals” and Hue Festival 2022 have been completed so far. Unfortunately, the covid-19 pandemic has prevented putting it into practice.
The spotlight of Hue tourism
According to tourism businesses, in countries that are well known for festivals such as Japan, France and Russia, festivals are promoted and held all year round to attract visitors. Similarly, programs for festivals in Hue should be made public with information about time and place as well as the highlights for each festival to draw tourists’ attention.
Hue Festival has its own attractions
Mr. Nguyen Huu Thuy Giang, Director of Tourism Department, said that festivals should be considered as tourist products in order to promote the role of “Four Seasons of Festivals” in developing tourist destinations. This means that methods of organization, management and promotion of festivals should be similar to those of other tourist products. Cultural activities should be tourist-oriented and the festivities should be made more attractive.
As “Four Seasons of Festivals” has not been operated, market research should be carried out to help design appropriate programs, according to experts, and evaluation should be regularly implemented for experience. Programs of festival tourism must be comprehensively invested, from surveying market and customer demands to considering the outstanding values of the festival to present to visitors.
Regarding the market for festival tourism, the evaluation from tourism industry shows that international visitors interested in culture come mainly from the France, Thailand, Japan, Australia, the UK and the US. Domestic tourists with interest in understanding culture are from the northern provinces. This is the driving force for proper investment in cultural tourism and festival tourism.
Dr. Tran Dinh Hang suggested that managerial agencies should create platforms for businesses and individuals to organize festivals to make them tourist and social products. It is necessary to raise Hue people’s sense of pride in their hometown and origin as a motivation for development.
For some festivals such as the Festival of Hue Traditional Crafts, which have been held many times and attracted many elites, there should be an appeal to the elites to gather and empower Hue, making the city a national center of traditional crafts. This is essential for Hue to become a typical city of festivals in Vietnam.
Story and photos: Quang Sang