Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Vuong Duy Bien speaks at the press conference

The information was released at a press conference held in Ha Noi on November 12.

The week will be the first event of the 2016 National Tourism Year highlighting Phu Quoc island district and the Mekong River Delta region.

The event will bring together 13 provinces and cities in the region including Kien Giang, An Giang, Hau Giang, Ca Mau, Can Tho, Tra Vinh, Soc Trang, Bac Lieu, Vinh Long, Tien Giang, Long An, Ben Tre, Dong Thap, and Ha Noi.

An arts programme, featuring a range of performances honouring cultural heritages and people of the Mekong Delta region, will be held at the Viet Nam Exhibition Centre for Culture and Arts on November 16 to kick off the week. It will be broadcast live on Viet Nam Television.

Notably, an exhibition themed ‘Impressive cultural and tourism heritages in the Northern river delta’ will also be organised on the opening day. The regional provinces and cities will display a variety of photos, artifacts, agricultural production tools, traditional costumes, and musical instruments from the daily life of the local people.

A contest will be held on November 17-18 for students from 13 universities and colleges in Ha Noi to discover the land and people of the Mekong River Delta region. In addition to taking part in the main contents of the contest, participants will enjoy an arts exchange between ‘Don ca tai tu’ (traditional musical art form of the south) artists from Bac Lieu provincial art troupe and ‘Quan ho’ (love duet) singers, as well as arts shows from other Mekong Delta provinces.

During the week, participating provinces and cities will show their traditional costumes as well as reproduce traditional festivals and folk games of the Kinh, Cham and Khmer. Visitors to the event will also have a chance to enjoy unique handicraft works and taste specialities by famous artisans and restaurants from the Mekong Delta region.

Additionally, the week will feature a forum on preservation and promotion of the value of cultural heritages and tourism products of the Mekong River Delta region on November 16. This is a good opportunity for the localities to share their experience and difficulties as well as the orientations to fully utilise potentials for tourism development in the region.

The 2015 Mekong River Delta Culture-Tourism Week in Ha Noi aims to introduce and honour the value of cultural and tourism heritages of the region to people in the country and international friends, said Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Vuong Duy Bien at the press briefing.

He also emphasised that “The communication on the region will significantly contribute to confirming huge tourism potentials as well as creating motivation for the socio-economic and cultural development of the region’s provinces and cities”.