The moment when the fireworks glow in the sky with sometimes melodious and vibrant music in the middle of the sparkling Han River has become a part of the beautiful memories of many residents and tourists during their stay in Da Nang.

The brilliant fireworks in the sky of Da Nang seem to connect tens of thousands of Da Nang residents and tourists closer together. Photo: HUYNH VAN TRUYEN

Over the past 16 years, such artistic fireworks nights have always been a highly anticipated international festival event by the Han River, attracting millions of hearts with the pinnacle performance of an art form that combines arts, emotions, science and endless creativity.

The original idea

In fact, each fireworks display looks like a work of art, helping viewers have unique wonderful experiences.

“Through 11 editions, DIFF (Da Nang International Fireworks Festival) has become a unique tourism product that helps Da Nang attract millions of domestic and foreign tourists each year during the event. The wonderful combination between fireworks shows and cultural, culinary and entertainment activities has contributed to promoting the strong development of Da Nang’s tourism industry.”, said Da Nang People's Committee Vice Chairman Tran Chi Cuong.

During 16 years of building the brand ‘fireworks city’, Da Nang has shown perseverance and steadfastness in its decisions.

It is known that the idea of organising an international fireworks competition was initially suggested  in 2007 by Mr. Nguyen Ba Thanh, the late Secretary of the Da Nang Party Committee.

At that time, the Malaysian ambassador suggested the city’s authorities to invite representatives from Malaysia-headquartered Global 2,000 Sdn.Bhd Company that specialises in organizing fireworks festivals to Da Nang for specific advice.

After that, the Da Nang authorities made the contact with this Malaysian company. A week later, Mr. Joe Ghazzal, the CEO of this company came to Da Nang.

Without waiting for an official meeting, the city leaders themselves went to the hotel where he was staying for discussions with him about the idea of organising an international fireworks competition. From here, the idea about fireworks set off with music, judging criteria and organisational space finally came up.

Former Da Nang Party Committee Secretary Thanh directed his subordinates to send a detailed project, attached with an official dispatch, to the capital city of Ha Noi to ask for approval by the Prime Minister to organise the Da Nang International Fireworks Competition (DIFC) every year.

The national government agreed to choose Da Nang as the only locality in Viet Nam to organize this special competition, with a single requirement that all organizational costs cannot be funded by the State budget.

Upon the national government’s approval, Da Nang spent 3 months preparing from budget, premises, facilities and human resources for the first DIFF called ‘The Dance of Tien Sa’ in 2008. At that time, the fireworks shooting location was a section of the Han River between the Han River and Thuan Phuoc bridges.

When choosing this location, Mr. Joe Ghazzal convinced the city that this location was at the mouth of the river, so the wind blew in from the sea, and viewers would be less affected by fireworks smoke. At the same time, the cross-section of this river section is quite wide, with airy space, creating the effect of light reflecting on the water surface.

In parallel with organising preparation, the city’s administration promoted the establishment of the host team representing Da Nang - Viet Nam. Talented members of the Da Nang Military Command were sent to Malaysia for training, with the thought that ‘the army has steel spirit, high discipline to ensure technical elements as well as safety during performances”.

With regard to funding, the city leaders enthusiastically called on large businesses to sponsor the event in the form of mobilizing financial contributions from the community.

The success of the first edition of DIFC with the participation of 4 teams, namely Canada, Hong Kong (China), Malaysia and Da Nang - Viet Nam, in 2008 recorded Da Nang's name in the Viet Nam Record Book with ‘the first international fireworks competition held in Viet Nam’. This also marked the first time Da Nang had an art fireworks team participating in the competition as a representative of the host country Viet Nam.

For many years acting as the Captain of the Da Nang - Vietnam Fireworks Team, Mr. Huynh Ngoc Chinh, from the Da Nang Military Command, said it was an interesting journey of learning and discovery, but also full of challenges and hardships.

In reality, right from the first edition of this event, there were unexpected situations and incidents, and not to mention, the pressure to perform became greater year after year when the host team had to compete with many strong teams from other parts of the world. However, with the spirit of learning, problems were gradually solved by the team, and performance techniques therefore became more attractive.

DIFF, with performances combining top-notch light and sound, has become an exclusive brand product of Da Nang. Photo: HUYNH VAN TRUYEN

Let DIFF to be more attractive

It can be said that over the past years, the organization of the Da Nang International Fireworks Festival (DIFF) has increasingly improved in a more professional direction.

Issues of security, environmental sanitation, food hygiene and safety, and service prices are thoroughly ensured by the city, also contributing to creating the image of Da Nang as beautiful, civilized destination. Up to now, DIFF 2024, which has ‘Made in Unity’ as its theme, is entering the final stage of preparations.

Most recently, DIFF 2023 was evaluated as a push to restore Da Nang tourism after 3 years of hiatus due to COVID-19. The number of visitors arriving in Da Nang during the one-month-long DIFF 2023 was more than 942.000. Revenue generated from accommodation, food and travel services in June 2023 reached VND 2,341 billion, an increase of 24.9% over the same period in 2022. The number of flights to Da Nang each day was up to 150, about 1.5 times more than usual. This is said to be a stepping stone for the Da Nang tourism to grow again and maintain its stature until now.

Fully aware of the fact that DIFF plays an important role in building the Da Nang tourism brand, Mr. Cao Tri Dung, the Chairman of the Da Nang Tourism Association, said that DIFF has been held successfully for many years, contributing to significantly attracting domestic and foreign tourists, as well as making Da Nang one of the leading event cities in Viet Nam, twice honoured as “Asia’s Leading Festival and Event Destination” at the World Travel Awards (WTA) for Asia and Oceania in 2022 in 2016 and 2022 respectively.

To make the DIFF event more attractive, it is suggested that Da Nang needs to continue to pay more attention to developing technical infrastructure, service facilities and performance space, as well as strengthen promotional and communication activities.

“Da Nang and the organizing unit should propose to the Vietnamese Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to unify the list of annual national tourism events, including DIFF. This is expected to help elevate this event and create favourable conditions for tourists to proactively plan to travel destinations, including Da Nang. From its perspective, the city needs to promote the building of a fireworks product ecosystem, including high-quality utility services, stimulating tourists to spend more on dining, shopping, and entertainment services during their stay in Da Nang, Mr. Dung proposed.

Sharing the same opinion, Mr. Nguyen Duc Quynh, the Chairman of the Da Nang Hotel Association, said that, up to now, the city has had 4,646 tour guides, 376 travel business units, 943 accommodation establishments with a combined total of more than 40,000 rooms.

Da Nang has become a major tourism and event centre in Viet Nam, and Southeast Asia at large, with a growth rate of 25-30% continuously for many years. DIFF is one of the outstanding events that contributes to bringing even more tourists and potential investors to Da Nang.

So as for this festival to thrive more, the city needs to increase promotional activities in its international tourist source markets, while organising large-scale cultural, art, and culinary events along both banks of the Han River.

In addition to focusing on fully tapping the advantage of traditional tourist flows, it is highly recommended to develop outstanding, high-quality tourism products to attract billionaires and high-class tourists to Da Nand and bring greater revenue to the city’s tourism industry.

It can be said that DIFF is not only a cultural and entertainment event but also a cultural and spiritual bridge between countries around the world. Based on the beauty of fireworks, the message of peace was also cleverly integrated and widely spread by the teams. Da Nang people are constantly looking forward to each edition of DIFF because when the festival takes place, the sky over the Han River will be brighter with beautiful fireworks displays by the world's top teams.

Reporting by TIEU YEN - Translating by A.THU