Factors Affecting Festival Tourism

During the festival, many useful cultural activities such as boat racing, tug of war, wrestling... are also organized and attract many viewers.

 Based on the space (scope) of the festival: There are national festivals (nationwide), regional festivals, village festivals...

- National festivals : such as Hung King's death anniversary, victory celebrations...

- Regional festival: This is a type of festival that has a wide range of influence, is representative, and has the participation of the whole region.

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- Village festivals: Mostly associated with the beliefs of agricultural residents. Take place at village temples, shrines, shrines, mausoleums...

“It is a form of periodic cultural activity, a comprehensive and most typical community of rural society in the village unit” [41 page 15]

Include:

+ Festival to worship Thanh Hoang: Takes place at village communal houses, also known as communal house festivals or communal house festivals.

+ Festivals to worship historical figures: Mostly take place at mausoleums and temples to worship people who have contributed to the country.

+ Whale Worship Festival: Takes place in coastal villages

+ Festivals - Tet : This is a highly communal activity. It is a seasonal festival associated with rituals of folk beliefs or religions based on the lunar calendar such as Tet Nguyen Dan.

+ Religious festivals : Associated with religious communities and also an occasion for meetings and mass cultural activities of local people. Types of religious festivals are: Full moon festival in July or Vu Lan festival; Buddha's birthday festival; Catholic festivals (Christmas, Easter...)

+ Festivals of ethnic minorities: Reflect the psychology, beliefs, customs and practices of ethnic communities.

+ Regional Festival

+ Family festivals (weddings, funerals, death anniversaries...)

 Based on the time of the Festival: There is Spring Festival and Autumn Festival.

 Based on the purpose and nature of the festival:

- Traditional Ancestor Worship Festival (Jewelry, Theater, Tailoring...)

- Whale worship festival (coastal fishermen)

- Religious festivals (Buddha's Birthday, Christmas, Mother Goddess worship festivals...)

In addition, depending on the festival activities, the purpose of the festival and each locality, there are different names for the festival such as: Festival to honor the gods; Craft village festival; Cultural festival (for example, cultural festival of ethnic minorities...)

Function of the festival

- Connecting the community, where the spiritual life of the community is expressed.

- Space to express individual and community creativity...

The role and position of festivals in community cultural life

Festivals are places to express the cultural values of the community, to promote the worshiped and ritualized characters. They demonstrate the social nature and vitality of the community (to enhance the cultural life of the community...). Festivals are the soul of cultural architecture and community life...

Festivals are an indispensable form of activity in the lives of the masses. Vietnamese culture has many forms, of which traditional folk festivals are typical forms imbued with the identity of each local community.

Traditional folk festivals are a form of outdoor activities originating from the needs of human life. It not only has a ritual part but also has

The festival part is to satisfy the need for healthy entertainment of a community nature. Through the festival, people satisfy the need to communicate and sympathize with the community widely. It is also the time when people are popularized and feel the local cultural values, an opportunity to gather to compete, compete to demonstrate the tradition of "Drinking water, remember the source". Traditional folk festivals help people feel the aesthetic values that it contains, a factor that positively affects the human spiritual world. Through the festival to educate the community about traditions, thoughts, and feelings, help people understand each other better, thereby adjusting their behavior in a cultural way.

Traditional folk festivals are a form of comprehensive performance: It is a combination of local people with a large number of guests from other localities. It is a smooth combination of space and time. The combination of many different art forms, customs and practices... creates diversity and richness for a type of community activity imbued with regional cultural identity.

In short, festivals are a very important factor that can meet the needs of sightseeing, entertainment, relaxation, communication, mutual understanding... which are indispensable needs in the cultural and spiritual life of a community.

The role of festivals in tourism

Traditional folk festivals are a unique tourism product. With the presence of the Festival, the architectural works of art, quiet temples and pagodas become soulful, sacred and lively. It has created attractive tourist destinations, enriching the tourism products of each locality.

Festival activities enrich and diversify local culture, attracting visitors to exchange, learn, enjoy and leave a special impression after each visit.

travel. Make cultural tourism have both "Quality" and "Quantity". In the festival, tourists can become the subject of the festival and participate in the festival's activities. This is a strong point. A positive factor that is difficult to achieve with other types of tourism.

In fact, traditional folk festivals are a source of attraction for tourists. Through tourism activities, festivals are illuminated and sublimated.

In short, traditional folk festivals always have the power to attract and captivate tourists by their unique and rich characteristics and more than that, it is the spiritual world of each person and each community. Exploiting the cultural values of festivals to combine with tourism activities is a concern that needs to be studied by functional departments.

1.1.1.2. Festival Tourism

Festival tourism concept

Festival tourism means taking festivals as a fulcrum, festival tourism activities contribute to honoring, protecting the cultural identity of festivals, preserving and developing festivals.

According to Trinh Le Anh and Nguyen Thu Thuy from the Faculty of Tourism, Hanoi University of Social Sciences and Humanities: “ Festival tourism is a type of tourism in which tourists make a trip for the purpose of sightseeing and participating in festivals at the destination. Here, festivals are a special attractive factor that attracts tourists from far away ”. Festival tourism means taking events (including and mainly festivals) as an attraction for tourists, as a catalyst for development not only for the tourism industry in the economic structure of the locality and the country that organizes it, as a tool to build the image of the destination.

Festival tourism is a type of tourism, the goal is to travel to local festivals, participate in festivals held at a famous place. Thereby improving understanding of culture, strengthening and expanding communication relationships.

The relationship and interaction between culture, festivals and tourism

Culture, festivals and tourism always interact with each other:

- Culture nurtures sustainable tourism. Sustainable tourism cannot be developed without putting culture into tourism activities.

- In cultural life, it is a living entity that always exists in harmony, creating a chain relationship between different categories in cultural tourism.

- In the current tourism development trend, culture is the fundamental part of tourism development. There are many cultural activities that take tourism as the destination and purpose.

- Culture is the driving force for tourism, both traditional and accepting of new cultural elements.

- Consider from the perspective of tourist needs and tourism product requirements.

- In short, tourism is indispensable in modern life and it is necessary to respect cultural values. Up to now, culture has become the strength of Vietnam tourism. The Party and the State have had policies to develop tourism in the right direction and sustainably and take culture as the basis for tourism development.

1.1.2. Factors affecting festival tourism

1.1.2.1. Time and place of organization

Festival tourism takes festivals as the main object of tourism purposes. However, festival activities occur in a certain time and space. Each festival occurs at a different time associated with the local community at that location. Festivals originate from the material and spiritual life needs of local people, organized in certain spaces. In contrast, tourism originates from the needs and conditions of tourists. The festival time is short and does not depend on tourists. Tourists travel when they have free time and

Festivals take place all year round and depend on many other factors such as holidays, means of transportation, etc. Therefore, the time and location of the festival also affect festival tourism activities.

1.1.2.2. Organizational form

Tourism activities are affected by seasonality, by the form of organization according to groups and individual guests. The organization of tourism programs depends on each different group of guests, according to nationality, religion, age, occupation, etc. In general, the form of organization of diverse types of tourism according to the needs of each different group of guests is always changing. Meanwhile, the form of organization of festivals must comply with regulations, traditional customs are difficult to change. Festivals in Vietnam in general, especially in Hue in particular, are heavily oriented towards ceremonies, cumbersome, the time spent on ceremonies is long and the participation in terms of quantity and audience is limited, which also affects the organization of festival tourism.

1.1.2.3. Festival content

Traditional Vietnamese festivals originate from the rice civilization, mostly agricultural festivals (Not only directly related but also include agricultural rituals and ceremonies).

Vietnam is multi-ethnic and multi-festival so festivals have different contents:

- Spring Festival

- Lunar New Year

- Festival to honor the gods

- Craft village festival

- Religious festivals:

+Full moon festival in July or Vu Lan festival

+ Buddha's Birthday Festival

+ Christian holiday (Christmas)

- Festivals are associated with the formation of a land.

The spirit of the festival, the content, the form, the influence of the festival. All are clearly shown through:

 Festival content

 Festival quality

1.1.2.4. Participation of local communities

The essence of festivals is that they are products created to serve the life of the local community. The active participation of the local community in festival activities not only improves the quality of the festival but also creates an attraction that attracts tourists to participate in the festival activities. The more local communities participate in the festival, the more it proves the vitality of the festival. It is a factor that makes festival tourism develop.

1.1.2.5. Tourist needs

Nowadays, people's lives are increasingly improved, traveling has become a common phenomenon in the rapid development of tourism activities. Travel trends have changed, tourists do not only come to traditional types of tourism such as sports, resorts or simple sightseeing, but also require a deeper understanding of the culture or nature of the destination. The needs of tourists in the past focused on accommodation, shopping... but now when traveling, tourists do not only simply visit historical and cultural relics but also want to explore deeply the daily life, customs, and festivals of the locality. Coming to the festival, tourists will be immersed in the unique cultural identity of each land where the festival takes place. Festival tourism meets the needs of tourists when coming to each country and each locality.

Traveling is to discover new things, new things with unique nuances of each region, that is cultural activities. Cultural tourism meets the needs of tourists to interact with local people. Festival tourism is the best environment to meet the needs of tourists.

1.1.3. Principles of festival tourism development

For a festival to become a tourism product, the factors that need to be noted are: Time and space of the festival. Location, purpose, meaning, theme, and value of the festival. When selecting typical festival investments, it is important to note:

- Establish criteria for selecting festivals to create tourism products

- Orientation of form and content of specific festival activities

- Establish a festival tourism development strategy. Develop festival tourism without losing the festival's unique character.

- Conditions for exploitation, investment and development of the festival

- Festival development must be in accordance with general principles, based on tourism development needs, the effectiveness of investment and exploitation management mechanisms, festival time and space, traffic conditions, services, human factors...)

- Festival tourism activities must also be business activities based on culture and must be ethical.

1.1.4. Lessons learned from festival tourism development

1.1.4.1. International experience

In the world, there are many countries that have done well in festival tourism in an effort to enhance the image of their country. The success is shown in the fact that when mentioning the name of the festival, excitement and passion are aroused in each tourist and the name of that country is associated in the mind of each person. For example, the carnival week in Brazil, the bull festival in Spain, the Song-kran spring water festival in Thailand...

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