Set to be opened for public viewing in seven days, Nguyen Hue Flower Street in 2018 will be one of the key cultural and tourism events for city dwellers and international visitors during the forthcoming Lunar New Year (Tet) holiday, which begins on February 16 this year.

Visitors are seen at Nguyen Hue Flower Street 2017

This is the 15th consecutive year that Saigontourist Holding Company, the nation’s leading tourism services provider, has organized the beautiful flower street.

Speaking at a news conference last week, Tran Hung Viet, general director of Saigontourist, the main organizer of the event, said it would take 15 days to set up the flower street, scheduled to open at 7 p.m. on February 13 (the 28th of the 12th lunar month) and wrap up at 10 p.m. on February 19 (the 4th of the first lunar month).

The forthcoming flower street will highlight the image of HCMC as a modern and dynamic city which has preserved its cultural traits, Viet added.

Themed “An aspiration to a new height”, the flower street is expected to stretch 720 meters from the City Hall to Ton Duc Thang Street along the Saigon River, with three main areas namely “Spring in the city”, “Integration and Development” and “Reaching to the future”.

The area around the statue of President Ho Chi Minh in front of the City Hall in Nguyen Hue pedestrian square will be decorated with apricot and peach blossom trees to usher in the nation’s biggest holiday.

One of the new features of the flower street is that the welcome gates will be placed in three different areas along the street, instead of a single main entrance like in previous years.

The mascot of the year is inspired by the Phu Quoc Ridgeback, a breed of dog well known for being agile, intelligent and brave from Phu Quoc Island off the Mekong Delta province of Kien Giang.

A family of dogs will be placed at the main entrance to the flower street to welcome visitors and celebrate the Year of the Dog while thousands of fresh flower baskets will be on display in vivid colors on the city’s largest flower street.

Since its debut in 2004, Nguyen Hue Flower Street has become one of the annual highlight events in HCMC, the nation’s largest economic center, on every Tet occasion and contributed to fueling the city’s tourism growth.

A lot of networking activities will be introduced to the public during the seven-day festival, such as flower displays by subsidiaries of Saigontourist in HCMC and food stands along Nguyen Hue Boulevard to serve Tet revelers.

In addition, Tet decorations and Doorshows performances will be presented in front of the premises of member companies of Saigontourist from January 28 to February 18.

SGT