Quang Nam promotes central region with Tourism Year 2014
Thanhnien
The opening ceremony – to be broadcast live by Vietnam Television – will take place at three stages in the historic town of Hoi An, the My Son holy land and the Chu Lai Open Economic Zone.
Tran Minh Ca, head of the Quang Nam Tourism Year 2014 Organizing Committee, said more than 650 artists would perform in the opening ceremony, many of them are visitors and local residents.
Most of the stage programs would focus on featuring the folk culture of the central region, said Nguyen Thi Thanh Tam, director of Hanoi-based Son Lam Tourist Co., which is in charge of running the festival declaration ceremony.
The floating stage on the Hoai River in Hoi An is a model of Chua Cau (Pagoda Bridge), one of the typical Japanese architecture works in the historic town, and a large flowered lantern.
Tam said the stage in My Son was designed as copy of a Cham ancient tower, while the program in Chu Lai would take place on a boat-shaped stage with many real ships behind as background.
People’s Artist Le Tien Tho, deputy minister of Culture and Information, would be the artistic director; and Le Hung, deputy director of the Youth Theatre in Hanoi, is the general director of the program.
Talking with Thanh Nien before the ceremony, Dinh Hai, director of Quang Nam Tourism Department, said 2,500 tourists had come to Hoi An in the last few days for the event.
In addition, nearly 1,000 representatives of 40 foreign travel agencies and more than 150 reporters at home and abroad had arrived there to cover news on the festival, he added.
With the theme Quang Nam, Two World Heritage Sites at One Destination, the province wants to make this year a colourful and fun one for tourists, Hai said.
After the launch, the Quang Nam Tourism Year 2014 will run until the end of the year with a series of festivals in different themes.
The Spring Tourism Festival, due to run until the end of the third lunar months, will feature many folk festivals and traditional art performances rich in the cultural identity of Quang Nam and its people.
Highlights will include festivals at the pottery village of Thanh Ha, vegetable-planting village of Tra Que, Nguyen Tieu Festival, Cau Ngu (whale worshipping) Festival in Hoi An, and Thu Bon Goddess Festival in Duy Xuyen district.
During April and May, visitors can make excursions to handicraft villages including Kim Bong carpentry, Phuoc Kieu bronze casting, Tra Que vegetable planting, Thanh Ha ceramics, and Ma Chau silk weaving villages.
The Hoi An – Summer Emotion Program, scheduled to kick off in June, will take tourists to beautiful Cua Dai beach, Cham Island and Hoi An which will be the venues for sea and food festivals and fashion shows featuring traditional costumes.
In July, the “Discovering cultures of ethnic groups and the legendary Ho Chi Minh Trail” tour will offer tourists chances to explore the diverse and unique cultural lifestyle of the Co Tu, Gie Trieng, M’nong, and Xe Dang ethnic groups.
Following will be the “Chu Lai – A Path to an Open Land†Festival in August, which will include art performances, seminars on investment potential in Chu Lai and traditional sea festivals.
The Quang Nam Tourism Year 2014 will conclude with a ceremony to celebrate the 2007 New Year and the 10th anniversary of the re-establishment of Quang Nam province in Hoi An town from Dec. 25-31.
