Head of the General Department of Culture and Information Nguyen Dao Toan said as spring festivals would take place in many areas, inspectors from the Ministry of Culture and information and relevant departments joined efforts in examining preparation work before the Lunar New Year festival. Some localities in Nam Dinh, Ha Tay and Bac Ninh made very good preparations. Apart from annual festivals, many provinces were also prepared to organise tourism cultural festivals to promote Vietnam’s heritage and tourism potential. Many festivals have already kicked off in Phu Tho, Lang Son, Quang Ninh, Quang Nam, and central Khanh Hoa province.

Reporter: What are the Ministry of Culture and Information’s instructions on the holding of festivals?

Mr Toan: It is necessary to inspect and punish violations of Decree 56/2006/ND-CP dated June 6, 2006 on punishment of administrative violations in the field of culture and information. It is also essential to prevent commercialized activities such as inviting local tenders for some festivals, cheating festival goers and encouraging superstition, and gambling activities to illegally collect fees.

Reporter: The country now has 8,902 festivals. How can the ministry manage to limit the widespread of ineffective festivals?

Mr Toan: The General Department of Culture and Information have given detailed instructions on the holding of festivals. Regarding the organization of new festivals imported from foreign countries, it is necessary to get official permission or make written reports on how to organize them..

Reporter: What about cultural and tourism festivals in recent times?

Mr Toan: Developing tourism through cultural activities is to further promote the values of cultural heritages effectively. A number of activities have attracted a lot of visitors as they feature a great deal of customs, relive folk festivals and introduce unique tourism products. However, cultural activities of some festivals are similar and the organization of such events remains meticulous and costly. The involvement of local residents in festival activities revealed some shortcomings.

Reporter: It seems difficult to preserve cultural identities in the market mechanism. What are your thoughts on the subject?

Mr Toan: This is a requirement and also a challenge. There will be an increasing demand for cultural and religious activities in the community. New festivals will also appear and develop strongly, while many localities become tourist resorts, hence the demand for new festivals imported from foreign countries will increase. However, a lifestyle motivated by economic interest, the idealistic trend and the gambling situation are likely to spread widely. The fact that many localities make use of festivals and relic sites as their own source of earnings from visitors and tourists.

Preserving the traditional cultural and humanitarian values of festivals in the market mechanism is an important goal. For the purpose of tourism development and renewed festivals, organizers have a tendency to pay too much attention to administrative procedures and ceremonies.

It is essential for the General Department of Culture and Information to focus on propaganda activities to make the public aware of the need to hold new healthy cultural activities in line with Resolution No.5 of the eighth National Party Congress.

Reporter: Festivals provide a good opportunities to preserve the traditional culture but also give rise to unhealthy customs like superstition and gambling. Could you elaborate on measures to supervise and manage this situation in 2007?

Mr Toan: The Ministry of Culture and Information has issued regulations on the supervision and management of festivals, cultural activities and services in 2007. The Ministry has also set up festival supervision delegations in localities to prevent negative phenomena. The focus will be on major festivals which are organized for a long period of time to attract a large number of visitors and important cultural and tourism festivals.

Reporter: Cultural and tourism festivals have been adjusted in accordance with the Government’s 11/2005/ND-CP decree. Could you elaborate on how to manage this type of festival?

Mr Toan: The Ministry of Culture and Information is drafting a circular guiding the implementation of the decree. Accordingly, organizers of cultural and tourism festivals at provincial levels have to make report to the Ministry on the projects to organize festivals and the scrip of festival that approved by  provincial People’s Committee. If there are games and art performances during festivals, organizers are allowed to sell tickers for these activities following regulations of financial agency. Proceeds from organizing festivals must be reinvested in preserving relic sites in localities.

Reporter: Thank you.