The four-day Saigontourist Group Food and Culture Festival 2023 at Van Thanh Tourist Site in Binh Thanh District, Ho Chi Minh City wrapped up on Sunday evening, after serving more than 40,000 revelers.

The number of visitors to the festival was higher than expected. Apart from locals, many traveled to the city for the festival from other localities, such as Ca Mau Province, Vietnam’s southern tip.

“Thousands of foreign tourists participated in the festival to enjoy local specialties, while crowds of overseas Vietnamese people returned to the country to join the fest to feel a traditional Vietnam via food and folk games,” said Pham Huy Binh, chairman of Saigontourist Group, the organizer of the event.

Given the success of the festival, Binh said that the tourism firm planned to host the food and culture festival annually and turn it into a world-class event.

The organizer plans to hold the Saigontourist Group Food and Culture Festival in many countries to popularize Vietnamese food and cultural characteristics among international visitors, according to the representative of Saigontourist Group.

This year’s festival featured some 350 local dishes stemming from three main regions of Vietnam, satisfying not only food lovers, but also domestic and international tourists.

Saigontourist Group teamed up with over 40 four- and five-star hotels and resorts, highly-skilled chefs nationwide, and its prestigious food partners to host such a large-scale food festival.

The 2023 food and culture festival achieved three goals, including boosting domestic tourism, diversifying tourism products in Ho Chi Minh City, and promoting the strength of Vietnam’s food and culture, Binh said.

First launched in 2022, the Saigontourist Food and Culture Festival was named ‘Asia’s Best Culinary Festival 2022’ by the World Culinary Awards.

The first edition was rolled out in the city in August 2022, featuring 30 booths with 300 dishes.

The recognition for the organizer’s efforts in hosting the first edition of the festival was one of the motivations for the launch of the second more creative and larger-scale festival, said the representative of Saigontourist Group.

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