The central highland province of Lam Dong has almost completed all preparations for the 4th Da Lat Flower Festival to take place from December 30 to January 3, 2012.

Truong Van Thu, head of the festival’s organization board said that the province grows enough flowers to decorate the city and neighboring districts.

A huge volume of flowers are planted in Da Lat City Park, tourist areas, Lam Vien Square, around Xuan Huong Lake and along the main city streets. Flowers can be seen everywhere, according to Mr. Nguyen Vu Hoang, general director of the festival.

There will be a special display of around 120,000 tulip plants and typical Da Lat flowers. Many flower works around Than Tho Lake, Mong Mo Hill tourist area and Yellow valley have been completed, added Mr. Le Thanh Van of the Da Lat Flower Association.

According to Mr. Thu, Da Lat has now 4,000 hectares of flower cultivation and about 1.4 billion flowers, of which over 30 percent are exported.

Da Lat Flower Festival is an important event for the region as not only does it highlight the beauty of Da Lat flowers and promote Da Lat flower growers, it also boosts the local flower industry and acts as a center for local and international flower lovers and growers to interact and exchange experiences.

The event, “Da Lat: city of a thousand flowers,” will present to visitors its vast variety of flowers along with many cultural activities.

A flower exhibition will be held on Ho Tung Mau and Le Dai Hanh Streets, alongside Xuan Huong Lake, Ba Huyen Thanh Quan Park and Lien Khuong Airport. The Da Lat flower market, an international flower exhibition introducing famous flowers from the region will be displayed at the Da Lat Flower Park. Music events, fashion shows, an international trade-expo, a seminar on flowers and a night wine festival will also be part of the festivities.

There will also be a flower road display at the Palace Hotel and tours of flower villages, fields, valleys, hills, villas and a trade village fair. A gala night of street dances and flower balloon performances will also be part of the celebrations.

One of the highlights of the Festival will be a flower bridge, themed “Europe in the city of a thousand flowers”. For this, the Ong Dao Bridge will be decorated with flowers and installed with LED lighting.
Organizers are hoping that the Ong Dao Flower Bridge will be recognized as “Vietnam’s most beautiful flower bridge”.

According to Vietnam travel companies, Lam Dong province received about 3.5 million visitors this year. The local authorities expect to attract 3.9 million tourists during next year.