Mekong Delta gears up for tourism festival

Mekong Delta province

People from 13 Mekong Delta provinces will meet at a festival in An Giang Province, which aims to promote regional cooperation on tourism and investment.

The Mekong Tourism Festival 2006 will start on February 23 and last until February 26 in the city of Long Xuyen and the nearby town of Chau Doc, both in An Giang Province.

Bui Thi Hong Ha, director of An Giang’s Tourism Department, said that organisers had been preparing the festival for over eight months. According to Ha, total investment capital has reached about VND 8 billion.

The festival, expected to draw some 300,000 local and foreign tourists, will feature a fusion of traditional music and culture under the themes “The Rivers’ Confluence and Fire of the Mekong Delta.

Its general director Dinh Anh Dung said that to help visitors learn more about the Delta’s traditional lifestyles, organisers had attempted to revive some of the South’s traditional arts.

Special performances will include cai luong (renovated opera) and don ca tai tu, which is unique to southern Vietnam and is often associated with farmers and labourers who sing traditional songs while working in the fields or relaxing at the end of a hard day. More than 1,000 artists and performers from 12 troupes are expected to participate.

Other activities will include boat rowing competitions, bicycle racing, culinary arts and art exhibitions.

An on-site trade fair is expected to draw about 450 showcases with products on display from the delta as well as Ho Chi Minh City, Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province and the Cambodian cities of Phnom Penh and Siem Reap.

(Source: VNA)