With the theme "Da Lat - A Multitude of Flower Colours,” the Sixth Da Lat Flower Festival 2015 is scheduled to take place from December 29, 2015 to January 2, 2016 in Da Lat City and some localities in Lam Dong province with the aim of honouring the value of flowers and floriculture, calling investment capital for floriculture, and promote the beauty of nature, culture and people of Da Lat. Vietnam Business Forum interviewed Mr Vo Ngoc Hiep, Chairman of Da Lat City People's Committee and Head of the Organising Committee for Da Lat Flower Festival 2015, on the role and importance of, and preparation for, this festival. My Chau reports.
Five editions of Da Lat Flower Festival have been successfully organised. Could you please describe the results of each festival?
Da Lat Flower Festival is a major festival of national scale and an opportunity for Da Lat City to showcase and exhibit flowers in the city and in other parts of the country, as well as from foreign countries. In addition to attracting visitors, the Da Lat Flower Festival also honours the value of flowers and floriculture, attract investment capital and develop Da Lat flower brands.
Da Lat City has successfully organised the Flower Festival since 2004 and this event series has created positive impacts on the city's economy, society and culture, made Da Lat City known as the centre of flower events, promoted the images of Da Lat and Vietnamese flowers; attracted tourists; developed flower production and business in both domestic and export markets; provided jobs for local people, and promoted the construction of infrastructure and services; directly contributed to economic growth, exchange and cooperation expansion and international tourism cooperation development.
The First Flower Festival 2005, held from December 10 to 18, 2005 with the theme "Da Lat - A destination of colourful flowers", attracted 80,000 domestic and international tourists. The Second Flower Festival 2007, which took place from December 15 to 22, 2007 under the theme "Da Lat Flower - I love you”, caught the fancy of nearly 85,000 domestic and foreign tourists. The Third Flower Festival 2010, opened from January 1 to 4, 2010 with the theme "Da Lat - City of Thousands of Flowers" attracted 74,000 international and domestic tourists. The Fourth Flower Festival 2012, organised from December 30, 2011 to January 3, 2012 with the theme of "Da Lat - City of Flower Festival" brought together 120,000 domestic and international visitors. The Fifth Flower Festival 2014, opened from December 28, 2013 to January 2, 2014 with the theme “Central Highlands - Echoes of the jungles”, drew the participation of over 100,000 domestic and international visitors.
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What is unique about the Sixth Da Lat Flower Festival compared to the five previous festivals? How have preparations gone for the festival?
The Da Lat Flower Festival 2015 consists of nine main programmes and 19 responding programmes. In addition to brilliant art performances during the opening ceremony, the festival will feature many appealing evening programmes like Lam Dong Trade and Tourism Promotion Fair, Gala honouring Da Lat florists, Da Lat Flower Carnival, and arts performances. The cores are the "Flower Space" around Xuan Huong Lake, Le Dai Hanh Flower Street and Ong Dao Bridge; and sightseeing tours to blossoming flower villages and flower production sites. Together with the "Flower Space", the festival also includes flower and ornamental plant exhibitions in Da Lat City-based flower gardens, with participation by flower businesses, artisans and individuals in Lam Dong province and other localities. Da Lat Flower Carnival highlights flower street parades, street art performances, and fashion shows performed by vegetable growers and florists and echoed by pupils and students in Da Lat City.
Currently, competent units, depending on their assigned functions and tasks, are actively preparing for the festival. They have reportedly completed implementation plans, detailed scenarios and designs.
Would you be kind enough to tell the meaning of the Sixth Da Lat Flower Festival 2015 for the development of Da Lat - Lam Dong flower brand, as well as the tourism brand of Da Lat - Lam Dong and Vietnam to the world?
The Sixth Da Lat Flower Festival 2015 is a cultural, social and tourism event aimed to bring Da Lat City to the world as the globally acclaimed city of tourism and recreation of the country and the world; create the festival brand name for Da Lat City and Lam Dong Province; affirm and honour flower values and florist values; provide the opportunity for Da Lat flower growers to meet and interact with flower lovers, florists, flower entrepreneurs and researchers in Vietnam and the world. This festival aims to promote investment and the signing of flower and vegetable production and trading contracts; to build flower villages for tourism using modern technologies; and to set up new attractive and impressive tours.
Beside careful preparations for festival programmes from relevant bodies, local people are the decisive factor in the success of the Da Lat Flower Festival 2015. People have enthusiastically embellished their living spaces to jointly create a large space of flowers to enchant visitors with flowers in every corner. Thus the Da Lat Flower Festival is not only flower fairs and flower streets, but flower villages, flower farms, flower parks, flower villas and flower streets. This participation will further promote the image and beauty of Da Lat - the City of Thousands of Flowers and the City of Vietnam Flower Festival.
It is clear that the Sixth Da Lat Flower Festival 2015 is an opportunity for Da Lat City to display and exhibit local vegetables, flowers and ornamental plants as well as products from other regions in Vietnam and from other countries, thus bringing more tourists to sightsee and relax in the city. As a national event, the Flower Festival is an event in honour of flower values and floriculture values in order to call for investment into flower industry as well as promote the image and beauty of Da Lat culture and people.
To make the Sixth Da Lat Flower Festival impressive, effective and successful, honour Da Lat flower, vegetable and tea products and brand values, and make the festival a true public event of all local people and tourists far and wide, what will the Organising Board focus on in the coming time?
Knowing that preparation, communication and information are decisive to the success of the event, Lam Dong Province and Da Lat City therefore are concentrating on directing and speeding up the information of the Sixth Da Lat Flower Festival 2015 with a variety of forms. Media and news agencies have increased the coverage, frequency and contents concerning the festival. The province and the city have also expanded cooperation with travel agencies to introduce the festival agenda to tourists; examine, upgrade and repair IT infrastructure in order to boost communication and information on the festival before and during the festival; make careful preparations for main programmes; gentrify urban areas; upgrade, repair and build roads and bridges, due for completion at least one month ahead of the festival opening; intensify environmental sanitation, restore landscapes, and prevent negative acts during the event.
Lam Dong and Da Lat will engage the community in the festival, solicit flower villages and companies, particularly those specialising in vegetables, flowers and tea, to actively take part in the festival organisation. Lam Dong and Da Lat will focus on making scripts to differentiate this festival from previous ones.
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