2,200 people performed real scenes at the opening ceremony of the National Tourism Year

The event is staged in the form of a large-scale scene, including four chapters: The origin, the great spirit, the pride of the Tay Son and Great thousands touch the blue sea. Instead of telling a linear story, the show uses a series of continuous scenes, combining music, dance and visual effects to recreate the journey connecting from the mountains to the sea.

The performance space integrates Central Highlands cultural materials such as gongs, along with historical images and contemporary life, to portray the interaction between the highlands and the Central Coast.

After the opening, there was a great music festival with the participation of the Say Hi universe, gathering many famous young artists. The performances are expected to use songs familiar to young audiences, newly mixed and staged with large-scale stage effects.

The organizers said the program had the participation of about 2,200 personnel, including production crew, artists, extras, security forces and logistics. The stage is 116 m wide, 40 m deep, combined with a 108 m long, 13 m high LED screen, allowing multiple performance scenes to be deployed simultaneously.

The recording system uses about 50 devices, including drones and flycams, to record the entire program from many angles.

The event is oriented as a “Mega Concert” within the framework of the opening ceremony, expected to create the opening highlight for the series of activities of the tourism year, while attracting tourists to the Central Highlands and Central Coast region.

Gia Lai has an area of ​​more than 21,500 km2 (the second largest in the country), a population of about 3.5 million people, a bridge between the South Central Coast – Central Highlands. With a large development space and a diverse transportation infrastructure system including roads, aviation, sea and international border gates, the locality has many advantages in trade, regional connectivity and tourism development.

The locality possesses rich tourism resources, combining the landscape of the plateau, sea and islands and the depth of indigenous culture. This place converges many typical cultural values ​​that are pervasive at the national and international level such as the Central Highlands gong cultural space, Central Highlands Bai Choi Art, and Binh Dinh traditional martial arts.

Besides, the province also owns a system of famous relics and landscapes such as the Cham tower system, the Chu Dang Ya volcanic system, K50 waterfall, Phuong Mai – Ky Co – Eo Gio peninsula.

According to the 2025 summary report of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Gia Lai province, the locality welcomed about 12.4 million visitors in 2025, an increase of 16.7% compared to 2024. Of which, international visitors reached 125,000, an increase of nearly 10%. Domestic visitors reached more than 12.27 million. Tourism revenue in 2025 is estimated to reach 29,000 billion VND, the highest level ever in the province.

Gia Lai province identifies 2026 as an opportunity to increase promotion, attract investment, improve infrastructure and improve service quality. The event of hosting the 2026 National Tourism Year contributes to creating conditions for the locality to position its tourism brand in a green – sustainable direction, promote cultural identity, enhance the role of the community and build products with characteristics of the Central Highlands combining sea and mountains.

In 2026, the province sets a target of 15 million visitors and revenue of 40,000 billion VND.