Southern fruit festival kicks off in Ho Chi Minh City

The 12th Southern Fruit Festival 2016, officially kicked off on June 1 at Suoi Tien Culture and Tourism Site in District 9, Ho Chi Minh City, attracting a large number of visitors.
Visitors have a chance to enjoy hundreds of fresh and delicious fruit specialties from Southern localities, including numerous famous brands such as Hoa Loc and Cat Chu mango, An Phuoc plum, Cai Mon durian and Vinh Kim seedless guava.
The festival also features a wide variety of activities including a floating market selling fruits and handicraft products, a display of strange, rare and giant fruits and bulbs, a competition on delicious and safe southern fruits, and introduction of the arts of fruit sculpture.
In addition, visitors can witness the art of fruit sculpture, learn how to make drinks from fruits, take part in a fruit parade, and enjoy national art forms and performances of international artists from Laos, Cambodia, the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia and Myanmar.
Notably, during this year’s festival, various activities will be held to support farmers in the southwestern provinces who are affected by drought and saltwater intrusion, including the ‘Viet Nam Fruit Week’ held from June 1-7 at hotels, super markets and trade centres.
The organising board has also mobilised individuals and enterprises in the city to help farmers through various means such as buying fruits, as well as sponsoring salinity testers and freshwater tanks.
On the opening day, visitors to the festival were very satisfied with the fresh and juicy fruits sold at 20-30% off. Phan Thu Trinh, a visitor from District 10, Ho Chi Minh City shared that she and her family were very eager to visit the festival to buy high-quality and safe southern fruits.
The 2016 Southern Fruit Festival, held jointly by the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Tourism, the city Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, and the Suoi Tien Limited Company, will run until June 9.