Mr. Ngo Quang Vinh, Director of the Da Nang Tourism Department

- What do you think about the Da Nang International Fireworks Festival 2017’s (DIFF 2017) influence on the city’s tourism?

I think the benefit from the festival to the city’s public interest in general and the tourism sector in particular is huge.

Firstly, we are building Da Nang into the city of big events, and this is a big one. 
The predecessor of this event was the Da Nang international fireworks show in Da Nang International, and now it has become an international festival. 

This is a huge event that is expected to turn Da Nang into a tourist destination, a destination of culture, entertainment and festivals that is favored by visitors at home and abroad.

The event will open a larger cultural and festival space, which is more professional than ever. The festival will be held in up to two months, with various activities beside the fireworks competition, such as a culinary competition, a street festival, ... 

The local tourism sector expects that the event will strongly boost the tourism brand of Da Nang and to attract more and more tourists to the city.

Secondly, the international fireworks festival will bring about great benefits for the whole community. This event will urge the transportation, health, agriculture, trade, tourism sectors ... to upgrade the infrastructure and quality of service to well serve the tourists.

- What will the people of Da Nang directly benefit from the DIFF 2017?

I think that besides the brand of Da Nang will be elevated, then the whole community, from individuals to businesses, will benefit from this great event. 

Everyone, from shopkeepers to taxi drivers ..., have a chance to serve a large number of tourists, bringing in large revenues for the city.

In addition, this is also an opportunity for us to complete the infrastructure, security and safety, social management ... which do not aim at organizing a successful festival, impressing tourists about a beautiful and safe Da Nang but also giving the local people a green - clean - beautiful and more civilized city and living environment.

- In 2016 Da Nang planned to lure about 5.5 million visitors. In 2017, along with the 2-month long international firework festival and a series of sideline events, how many tourists do you expect that the city will welcome this year?

In 2017, Da Nang’s tourism industry wishes to serve 6.1 million tourists, including approximately 1.9 million international visitors. 

We hope that with the larger scale, the DIFF 2017 will attract many more visitors to the city. 

I can say that the millions of visitors is the number that we expect to lure during the fireworks festival this year. This is a very important threshold for Da Nang’s tourism.

- Da Nang is located in the triangle of world cultural heritage sites, which includes Hoi An ancient town, My Son holy land, the ancient capital city of Hue. How has Da Nang’s tourism prepared to connect with its neighbors like Quang Nam and Thua Thien Hue provinces to hold visitors during the two months of the international fireworks festival this year?

This is a matter that the city’s tourism industry is thinking about and the plan will be further improved. 

We have planned to upgrade this event from a fireworks show to a festival, with a larger scale and larger cultural space. 

Thus, Da Nang’s tourism sector will have to upgrade itself in order to seize this opportunity.

The festival is designed with six great programs of international level, such as the street festival, the international food festival, the beer festival, ... 

These events are attractive to international tourists and we have begun to advertise these activities in order to attract tourists.

This is also the purpose of the Sun Group – the festival organizer – and of Da Nang’s tourism sector. 

We will carry out many activities in close coordination with the Sun Group.

As for the connection with Quang Nam and Hue, representatives of the three provinces have met several times to work out policies for the breakthrough development of tourism in the three locations. 

We will work with the tourism association and relevant agencies to offer tourists the best products and services.

PV