First-ever Ban Flowers Festival to be held in Hanoi

The first Ban (Bauhinia) Flower Festival in Hanoi is expected to welcome 300,000 visitors.

The Ban (Bauhinia) Flower Festival will take place at the Hanoi Museum, the first of its kind in the capital city, from April 4 to 14, according to Hanoimoi newspaper.

The event is organized by the 2019 Northwest Vietnam trade promotion fair. With 200 trade booths, it aims to promote the beauty of Northwest Vietnam culture.

The festival will feature 300 bouquets of Ban flowers from Northwest Vietnam together with presentation of culinary art of the ethnic minorities of the region as well as exhibitions showcasing traditional culture, books, folk sports, singing and dancing.

The festival is expected to welcome 300,000 visitors.

Firstly held in 2014 on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of Dien Bien Phu’s victory, the Ban Flower Festival has becomen an annual cultural event of Dien Bien province. It aims to preserve and promote the cultural values of Dien Bien’s ethnic minorities and promote the Dien Bien province through the Ban tree, which is symbolic for the northwest region of Vietnam.

The festival is slated to be inaugurated in the province on March 14, one day after the commemoration of the opening day of the epic Dien Bien Phu Battle March 13, 1954.

In 2018, the total number of visitors to Hanoi hit 26.04 million, up 9.3% from 2017. Of the total, there were 5.74 million foreigners, a rise of 16% year-on-year. Tourism revenue was calculated to exceed VND75.8 trillion (US$3.26 billion), an annual increase of 11.7%.

In 2019, Hanoi aims to welcome nearly 28.6 million tourists, including 6.7 million foreigners.

Mai Nguyen