3:59:59 PM | 10/12/2007
The Da Lat Flower Festival 2007 is about to open. Vietnam Business Forum reporter Danh Binh interviewed Mr Truong Van Thu, Vice Chairman of Lam Dong People’s Committee, Head of the Festival Organizing Committee.
Each Flower festival is a milestone in the development of Da Lat, can you compare the 2007 festival with 2005?
Da Lat’s soil and climate are suitable for planting flowers. The objective of the Flower festival is to make the flower business an important economic sector of Da Lat city and Lam Dong province as a whole. Though the objectives of the two festivals are similar, they are different in programme and organization. This time, the festival features broader participation from the whole society. The festival has grown in terms of programmes, organization and sponsorship. Participants will find many opportunities to participate in the festival with flower planters and traders.
While promoting the Da Lat flower trademark, how has the festival boosted Lam Dong tourism?
For a long time, Da Lat has been one of the five tourist centres of Vietnam, an ideal resort and an attractive eco-tourism centre for tourists. With good climate and beautiful landscapes, Lam Dong – Da Lat is a desirable venue for seminars and conferences. It is also rich in tourism activities: adventure, culture, sports, and nature tours.
Lam Dong province considers tourism an economic driving force and it is even more important to Da Lat. Tourism has been given priority for development with existing potentials and strength. In the vision to 2010, three types of tourism will be developed: eco-tourism, resorts and MICE (combined with seminar and conference).
We hope that regular flower festivals will promote the Da Lat flower brand to tourists, consumers and businesses at home and abroad. So far, 70 Vietnamese flower enterprises have registered for the festival together with those from the Netherlands, China, Japan, Thailand, New Zealand, and Argentina. It will be an opportunity for flower planters to exchange their experiences and find opportunities for cooperation and investment. It will also attract more tourists to Da Lat – Lam Dong.
Compared to the last time, Flower festival 2007 has better facilities and stronger support from the business community. Can you describe the actual preparation?
The festival’s diverse and colourful activities require intensive preparations. The Organizing Committee focuses on key programmes such as the international exhibition and trade fair “Integration and development of Da Lat flower brand” in the city park to introduce famous flower regions of Vietnam, featuring 70 enterprises from the Netherlands, China, Japan, Thailand, New Zealand and Argentine; Trade-tourism exhibition and seminar promoting investments with 700 stalls of local and regional businesses; and seminars sponsored by Lam Dong People’s Committee to promote local and foreign investment in the rich southern part of the Highlands. The opening ceremony in the evening of December 5 will be impressive, with live broadcasting on VTV1. There will be a “Flower and light” street festival, and a beauty pageant of Vietnamese ethnic nationalities highlighting the cultural heritage and image of Vietnam.
Together with the main programmes, other activities will be organized such as a “Tea-flower-wine trade fair”, “Flower wedding”, “Flower street”, “Vietnamese record winners festival”, “Rose and chocolate evenings”, “Tandem bicycles festival” and “Vietnam-Japan marathon.” The Organizing Committee will also install flower towers and flower arch gates along Highway 20 and in Da Lat. Flower parks will be designed specifically for “Landscapes and Flowers Tours.”
Da Lat is now actively preparing for the festival. Da Lat park is being re-arranged for the international flower exhibition with new flower beds. The city is upgrading the sewage system, pavements and flower beds with the participation of the population to make Da Lat a big flower park. Le Dai Hanh road will be lined with cherry blossoms for the occasion of the festival.
To ensure accommodation for tourists during the festival, measures will be taken to prevent the increase of hotel room rates, while tents and camping sites will also be set up. In addition, four new hotels with 400-500 rooms have been opened together with private guest houses to meet the demand during the festival.
P.V