Hanoi (VNA) – Home to 19 ethnic groupswith various cultural festivals, the northwestern province of Dien Bien istapping its strengths in this regard to lure more tourists.

Ethnic minority groups accounting for up to 83% of thelocal population have maintained their traditional festivals like boatracing of the Thai Trang (White Thai), crop praying of the Kho Mu, and fire dance of the Dao,featuring multiple folk dances and songs.  

Such festivals not only serve the spiritual life oflocal residents but also remain their pride. They have also been considereda booster of local tourism since eco-, cultural and community-based tourism hasemerged as a trend.  

Over the past years, local authorities have paidmore attention to the organisation of the festivals with higher quality.Meanwhile, a number of travel firms have included them as highlights of theirtours.

Statistics show that Dien Bien welcomed more than 1million visitors last year, up nearly 25% year-on-year, and earned over 1.7trillion VND (68.64 million USD) from the sector, a rise of nearly 27%.

However, experts noted that the province’s potentialfor festival tourism has yet to be fully tapped as festive activities are notdiverse enough to entertain both locals and visitors, and the engagement ofdifferent economic sectors in the holding of cultural, arts and sportsactivities in combination with cultural festivals remains limited.

Some suggested Dien Bien pay more heed to special,typical festivals and connect them with tourist attractions in the province, stepup its connectivity with travel companies, and encourage the public to play amore active role in local tourism development.

Dien Bien is hosting the Visit Vietnam Year - DienBien 2024 with an opening ceremony for the national tourism year and the Ban(Bauhinia) Flower Festival 2024 held on March 16.

In coincidence with the 70th anniversary of the DienBien Phu victory (May 7, 1954 – 2024), Visit Vietnam Year - Dien Bien 2024 isexpected to bring endless experiences to tourists.

There will be 169 programmes and events throughoutthe year, comprising 13 national ones to be held by the Ministry of Culture,Sports and Tourism and other agencies, 28 by host Dien Bien province, and 128by 33 other provinces and centrally-run cities, Deputy Minister of Culture,Sports and Tourism Trinh Thi Thuy said.

Organisers said they believe that Visit Vietnam Year - DienBien 2024 will help promote tourism values and potential of Dien Bien province,the northwestern region, and Vietnam at large, thus helping to turn tourism intoa spearhead economic sector, she noted./.