HCMC to debut street arts festival in 2021

The festival is scheduled to be held from April until November with a series of activities including mural painting, a street arts exhibition, youth workshop, international seminars on street arts and music festivals, the city's Vice Chairman Duong Anh Duc told the French consul general in Ho Chi Minh City Vincent Floreani in a meeting.

The street arts festival, a program sponsored by the French government, through France's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Development, has been implemented in many countries like the U.S., Germany, the U.K., Japan, China, Malaysia, Thailand and Cambodia to promote cooperation on culture, tourism, and urban arts.

Floreani said this festival would promote HCMC as a new street art center in Southeast Asia.

"The first-ever festival promises to attract many European tourists returning to Vietnam after the Covid-19 crisis," he said.

The government has closed national borders and canceled all international flights since March 25 except for special cases like repatriation and the entry of foreign experts and highly-skilled workers under stringent conditions.

Vietnam could lose $23 billion in tourism revenue this year due to the coronavirus pandemic, or about 75 percent of last year’s industry revenue, said Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Nguyen Ngoc Thien.

Southern metropolis HCMC is one of Vietnam's top tourist destinations, well known for attractions like French architectures dating back to the colonial times and modern urban landscape.