The flower festival, which has become an annual cultural event in Da Lat, will include a variety of programmes to honour the flower-growing industry of this charming city.

A flower fair will become a destination for various flowers originating from different localities of the country, as well as flowers from foreign countries such as Dutch tulips, Bulgarian roses, and Thai and Chinese orchids.

Flowers planted in farms will cover Da Lat's poetic hills and be paraded on decorated carriages along its streets to help everyone breathe their scents in the cool and romantic air of the city in December.

Known as a city of love and honeymoons, Da Lat will host a mass wedding ceremony for 150 couples titled "Festive night of roses". Visitors to the city during the festival will have chances to taste Da Lat wine in a festival called "Highland love".

The festival will include a trade and tourism fair, exhibitions, music programmes and film shows, all with the theme of flowers.

During the flower festival, Da Lat will also introduce its tourism potential with various programmes, including the ascent of 2,165-metre Langbian Mountain, tours to discover Da Lat's architecture style and visits to waterfalls, craft villages and flower farms in and around the city.

To prepare for the festival, Da Lat has invested in upgrading and building more hotels and restaurants to reach a total of more than 4,500 rooms, including 700 international standard rooms.

The city has also developed entertainment venues, especially in areas around Da Lat Market, Xuan Huong Lake, Yersin Park, and Da Lat Flower Park.

The festival’s organising board has prepared over 1.3 million pots of flowers for decoration and exhibition at a total cost of VND10 billion. Organisations and families also have prepared around 11,000 additional pots of flowers and topiary plants for the festival.

The festival is expected to welcome more than 80,000 visitors, including about 8,000 foreigners. Japan alone has registered to send dozens of businesses and about 300 tourists to the festival. There is a plan afoot to invest US$1 billion in building a residential area in Dan Kia-Suoi Vang area of the city.