The opening ceremony will commence at 7 p.m. on March 7 at President Ho Chi Minh Monument Park and Nguyen Hue Street, featuring two programs: "Ao Dai - Vietnamese Soul, Vietnamese Culture" and "Ao Dai to the World."
On March 1, the HCMC Department of Tourism and the HCMC Women's Union collaborated to announce the 10th HCMC Ao Dai Festival. This year's festival will showcase a series of activities at various locations, including President Ho Chi Minh Monument Park and Nguyen Hue Pedestrian Street, Lam Son Park, Youth Cultural House, Ao Dai Museum, QT4 Square (Thu Duc Saigon River Park), as well as historical and cultural sites, tourist destinations, and city landmarks.
Mr. Le Truong Hien Hoa, Deputy Director of the HCMC Department of Tourism, noted that the 2024 HCMC Ao Dai Festival builds upon and enhances the achievements of the past nine years. This year's festival will offer a wide range of interactive activities engaging the community. Visitors will have the chance to admire distinctive Ao Dai collections from 30 top domestic fashion designers, with the participation of 22 well-known artists serving as festival ambassadors.
"The HCMC Ao Dai Festival is a unique cultural tourism product and a vital economic development catalyst for the city, driving growth in the tourism sector and providing significant revenue for local businesses. We aim for the festival to represent the distinctive cultural tourism of HCMC and Vietnam, contributing to upholding and promoting our national cultural identity while introducing and promoting HCMC as a premier tourist destination," shared Hoa.
The 10th Ao Dai Festival comprises a range of activities, including a collective Ao Dai parade on the morning of March 8 at Nguyen Hue Pedestrian Street to commemorate the 114th International Women's Day (March 8, 1910 - March 8, 2024) with an estimated 5,000 participants, a talkshow on "The Elegance of Vietnamese Ao Dai and International Integration" and an artistic program themed "Ao Dai - Colors of HCMC."
Furthermore, from March 7 to 17, at locations including Nguyen Hue Pedestrian Street, Lam Son Park, the exhibition area of the Investment and Trade Promotion Center (ITPC), and various other tourist destinations across the city, there will be exhibition spaces and interactive activities highlighting the Ao Dai. Additionally, zero-Vietnamese-dong Ao Dai booths will be set up for female workers.
In particular, this year's festival will include the event "Setting the Vietnamese Record for the Longest Consecutive Annual Ao Dai Festival in Vietnam" to mark its 10th anniversary.
This year's festival includes four competitions, namely the "Charming Ao Dai of HCMC" contest, with the final held on the evening of March 9 at President Ho Chi Minh Monument Park and Nguyen Hue Pedestrian Street, the Ao Dai design contest held on March 2 and 3 at the General Sciences Library, the online Ao Dai Photo and Video contest with the theme "Ao Dai and 100 Interesting Things about HCMC", and the logo design competition commemorating the 10th anniversary of the HCMC Ao Dai Festival.
On February 27, the judging panel selected 15 artworks from the 250 entries in the logo design competition, awarding the first prize to Nguyen Thi Thu Thao, 34, residing in HCMC.
