Grand opening ceremony kicks off Hue Festival 2012

  Thousands of domestic and foreign visitors attended a grand opening ceremony of Hue Festival 2012 at the Imperial City of Dai Noi, inside Hue Citadel on April 7. Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung stressed that the tourism industry is not just an economic industry, but is part of a profound human cultural event. Hue Festival 2012 is one of the events for National Tourism Year this year in the Northern Central Coastal Area.
The National Tourism Year will be an opportunity to promote and showcase Vietnamese culture to the world and raise public awareness of the need to preserve ancient cultural heritage sites in the northern central coastal area. The event is a chance for local and international art troupes to perform and highlight different cultures as well as take advantage of many business and investment opportunities in various fields, added Prime Minister Dung. This year, the biennial Hue Festival in Hue City in Thua Thien-Hue Province from April 7-15 will have 36 art troupes from 28 countries from around the world participating in the event. A number of cultural activities such as musical performances, folk games, puppetry, martial arts and dance performances will be held during the event.

Some photos of the ceremony, taken by DTiNews: