The second Ho Chi Minh City River Festival has the highlight of the musical “Legendary Train”, mobilizing 1,000 actors and 1,000 drones.
On the afternoon of February 8, Ms. Nguyen Thi Anh Hoa, Director of Ho Chi Minh City Department of Tourism, said that this year’s Ho Chi Minh City River Festival will be held for 10 days, from May 31 to June 10, expanding in scope. tissue and time. Departments will coordinate to organize a series of interdisciplinary events in tourism, entertainment, sports, cuisine, and shopping, associated with the spirit of river festivals.
The activity that is expected to create the brand of Ho Chi Minh City River Festival is also the highlight of the event, the art program “Legendary Train”.
Ms. Le Hai Yen, General Director of the show, said that this is an outdoor musical with 5 chapters, telling the story of historical trains associated with important milestones of Ho Chi Minh City and the long history of its people. The race goes from the past to the present. The show’s creators spent more than 6 months researching historical materials to make this show.
In the form of an outdoor musical on the Saigon River, the musical’s performance space is large with more than 1,000 professional actors and the public participating. Cinematic techniques are applied to stage staging, flexible and changing scenes to create surprises for viewers such as 3D mapping, combined with the use of more than 1,000 demonstration drones.
“The organizers hope that the program will create a trend of combining education and entertainment (edu-tainment), so that young tourists can easily access historical and cultural values through modern art forms.” , Ms. Yen said.
The dance show “The River Tells Stories” takes place at the first river festival 2023. Photo: Quynh Tran
Archaeologist Dr. Nguyen Thi Hau assessed that the program is a large-scale investment and will bring good effects to the festival. However, it is important to maintain this art program regularly to build the city’s river festival brand.
Director of Ho Chi Minh City Department of Tourism said the department is coordinating with businesses in the city to research and create a periodic program to serve residents and tourists.
Ms. Hoa said the event’s timing was changed compared to last year to reduce the impact of weather factors, taking place in early summer, the peak period for welcoming international tourists.
This year’s river festival will be held in the Saigon port area, Nha Rong – Khanh Hoi wharf and some districts along the Saigon river such as District 7 and District 8. The event also increases the number of water sports activities, culture and arts. Water sports activities such as water motor demonstrations, SUP rowing, and swimming tournaments will take place in District 7. In District 8, the festival has a space “on the wharf under the boat”, recreating the scene of a Western floating market, There are buying and selling activities and enjoying regional cuisine here.
During the 10 days of the festival, Ho Chi Minh City organizes a parallel series of tourism stimulation activities targeting waterway tourism products. Ho Chi Minh City’s tourism and industry and trade sectors also coordinated to organize a shopping stimulus program.
A new feature of this year’s river festival is that for the first time, fireworks will be held on the opening night of May 31. According to the proposal of the Ho Chi Minh City Command, three fireworks display points include the Saigon River bank area (Thu Thiem ward, Thu Duc city), this point is fired on a permanently anchored barge; Ba Son wharf area (Ben Nghe ward, district 1) and Landmark 81 riverbank park area (ward 22, Binh Thanh district).
During the 4 days of the river festival held for the first time in 2023, room capacity in the area increased by about 20%, restaurant services reached 100% capacity, and revenue increased by 23% compared to normal days. Waterway tourism products also attract tourists with an increase of 15% compared to normal, and urban waterway tours increase by up to 50%. The total number of visitors to the festival reached more than 51,000.