Hanoi (VNA) – “Le hoi Thanh Tuyen” (Tuyen Quang City Festival) 2016ꦜ, which is also known as Tuyen Quang Mid-Autumn Festival, will be held from September 9-11 with a mass parade of beautiful and giant lanterns made by locals.

Sixty most beautiful lanterns, which simulate characters in fairy tails, colloquial stories and famous beauty spots of the country, have been elected for the parade in Nguyen Tat Thanh square in Tuyen Quang city, the northern mountainous province of same name. Two of the lanterns are expected to be recognised as Vietnam’s records, said Nguyen Hai Anh, Vice Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee and head of the organising board during a press conference in Hanoi on August 26. This year, the annual event will be organise in parallel with a tourism development programme themed “Through Northern Mountainous Heritage Areas,” which has been jointly launched by six regional provinces: Bac Kan, Cao Bang, Ha Giang, Lang Son, Thai Nguyen and Tuyen Quang since 2009. An art performance featuring the cultural identity of ethnic minorities in northern mountainous region involving 400 artists will be held following an opening ceremony on September 9. Other festive activities in the framework of the programme include cuisine and Hanoi beer festivals, and a photography festival and a beauty contest. This year, the programme is expected to draw 50,000 visitors to Tuyen Quang. The city has encouraged locals to host visitors as part of efforts to meet their accommodation demand. Anh also revealed that through six years of the programme, the six localities attracted 32 million visitors. In Tuyen Quang, the number of tourist rose significantly to 1.32 million from only 500,000 in 2010. The province’s tourism revenue also has increased 12-18 percent annually. Tuyen Quang, a place of revolutionary history, owns various beauty spots and historical sites, including Tan Trao, Kim Binh, Kim Quan, and Lang Ngoi-Da Ban.-VNA