Ho Chi Minh City authorities are now re-enacting what can be considered hallmarks of the Mekong Delta to lure more tourists: fruit and floating markets.

The Southern Fruit Festival 2015 has simulated a cultural characteristic of the Mekong Delta - floating markets - which can be found throughout the southern region, at Suoi Tien Amusement Park in District 9.

A floating market, usually held in areas where water transport plays an important role in daily life, like the Mekong Delta, is a market where goods are sold from boats.

The highlight of the Southern Fruit Festival 2015, which kicked off on Monday, is a floating fruit market where many boats are selling more than 150 kinds of fruit at prices 20-40 percent cheaper than the market rates.

The boats are loaded with fruits from famous brands, including Hoang Gia pomelos (Vinh Long Province), Tan Trieu pomelos (Bien Hoa City), Hoang Hau dragon fruits (Long An Province), Luc Ngan lychees (Bac Giang Province), Cai Mon durians (Ben Tre province), Vinh Kim guavas (Tien Giang Province), and others.

The festival also includes an area displaying fruits that meet VietGap and Global Gap standards, as well as a giant and rare fruit collection including a 50kg-waxy pumpkin, 4kg of pomelos, black tomatoes, violet mangos, violet corn, and violet longans.

According to the management board of the Suoi Tien, the event received more than 10,000 guests on the opening day, the Vietnam News Agency reported.

Visitors, who were mostly residents of Ho Chi Minh City and neighboring provinces and cities, brought their children to celebrate the day, as it coincided with International Children's Day.

The southern region boasts 415,800 ha of land for fruit cultivation, producing around 4.3 million metric tons per year, accounting for 53.2 percent and 57 percent of the country’s area and output, respectively.

The festival will last until the end of August.

The entrance of the Southern Fruit Festival 2015, which kicked off at Suoi Tien Amusement Park on June 1, 2015, is decorated with huge mockups of many kinds of famous fruit from southern Vietnam.

The area set aside for the Southern Fruit Festival 2015 is designed like a floating market, which can be found in many locations in the southern region.

About 150 kinds of fruits are available for sale on boats arranged in lines along an area stretching over one kilometer inside Suoi Tien Amusement Park. 

Local customers look for good durian at a boat at the Southern Fruit Festival 2015.

After choosing one, the seller will weigh the fruit, then take the flesh out of the shell and sell it separately in plastic boxes at the Southern Fruit Festival 2015.

Peaches from the northern mountainous town of Sapa are also available at the Southern Fruit Festival 2015.

Plums from the capital city of Hanoi are on sale at the Southern Fruit Festival 2015.

A local customer pays for the rambutans he chose at the Southern Fruit Festival 2015.

Other kinds of fruits like cherry, jackfruit, pineapple and guava are packed into small plastic bags stored in refrigerators at the Southern Fruit Festival 2015. 

A visitor takes a photo of a rare fruit collection at the Southern Fruit Festival 2015.

Traditionally, products sold on boats at a floating market are hung on a bamboo stick so that buyers will know which boat they need to go to. This is simulated on the boats at the Southern Fruit Festival 2015. 

The plastic mockups of the fruit available at the gate of Suoi Tien Amusement Park

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!