Cultural researcher Nguyen Hung Vi, shares his thoughts about overcrowding and poor management at traditional festivals.
Nguyen Hung Vi
"Overcrowding at any festival is caused by too many people in too limited spaces over a short period of time. The Lim, Tran Temple and Giong festivals also saw overcrowding. The number of people far exceeded organiser predictions and they didn't know what to do," Vi said.
According to Vi, more and more people are able to go to festivals as the infrastructure and transport becomes better.
As Hung Kings Temple Festival is one of the largest events in Vietnam, Vi warned organisers to learn from the experience to avoid similar situations next year. When being asked about the poor behaviour of people, littering the religious site with rubbish and refusing to queue, Vi said blaming people was the easiest excuse.
"I think the organisers should take most of the responsibility. They should estimate the number of visitors and make various strategies to deal with problems that might occur."
Vi said he was on the organising board for a festival at Hoang Phuc Temple and at the meeting, they mostly discussed overcrowding, public order issues and how to ensure a better visitor experience. Vi said when the festival ended, everyone was happy because littering was minimised even though they had 30,000 visitors, 5,000 more than expected.
"Festival planning must always be carefully reviewed. Organisers must know how to expand the festival's space and organise other activities at locations that are far from each other. For example, organisers at the Lim Festival encouraged visitors to participate in singing groups near residential houses not just flocking to the temples to hear singing," Vi said. "In addition, organisers should make arrangement so that visitors can go to the festival on different days."
Tens of thousands of people visited the Hung Kings Temple Site in Phu Tho province on April 14 as part of this year’s festival. The site was so overcrowded that many people visited the site by foot via the wooded lands surrounding the site.
After the event, some photoshopped images appeared on internet entitled Hung Kings Temple Has Fallen, imitating film posters for movies such as London Has Fallen and Olympus Has Fallen, to reflect the overcrowded site. Some people commented that it was pure chance a mass death was avoided due to the high numbers of people attending the event and poor quality of the stewarding.