One of the country’s biggest sea festivals will take place from August 28 to September 3 in the southern coastal province of Ba Ria Vung Tau.
Kite Festival in Ba Ria-Vung Tau in 2017. Photo: Phunuvietnam.vn
“Ba Ria Vung Tau, Aspiration, Love and Sea” focuses on connecting the province’s trade, tourism, and economic activities with those of other coastal localities in Vietnam and attracting investors in tourism.
Nearly 30 cities and provinces, including some 400 enterprises with 850 stalls, will participate in the festival, featuring a series of economic, cultural, and social activities.
Highlights include the Beer Festival, art with kites, making sand statues, a carnival, an exhibition of flowers and calligraphy, a fashion show on the “ao dai” (Vietnam’s national dress) and bikinis, a cuisine contest, a parade of old Vespas, and music and EDM nights.
Several seminars and workshops will also be held on trade and tourism promotion and environmental protection.
Some 300,000 visitors are expected to attend the festival.
With a cool and dry temperature all year round and a coastline of over 305 km, Ba Ria Vung Tau is one of the most popular destinations in Vietnam and home to clear water and white sandy beaches such as Ho Coc, Bai Sau, Dam Trau, and Bai Dua, together with deluxe seaside resorts.
As a significant port, particularly during French rule, Ba Ria Vung Tau, about 100 km from Ho Chi Minh City, also features cultural, revolutionary, and historic relics such as White Palace, built by the French from 1898 to 1916 as a summer holiday house of the French Governor General, and beautiful pagodas and a statue Jesus on the top of Nui Nho Mountain.
The province welcomed approximately 6.5 million tourists in the first half of 2018, including nearly 230,000 international tourists, up 13.1 per cent and 53.8 per cent, respectively, against the same period last year. It earned VND2.8 trillion ($123 million) from tourism activities, according to the provincial Department of Tourism.