VietNamNet Bridge - The festival, themed “Cultural Heritage with Integration and Development”, closed on June 13 night, with visitors from all over the world saying they were deeply moved by the event.

Hue Festival 2010 left a great impression on visitors with major spectacles, including the Imperial Night, Voyage to Reclaim the Country’s Land and Legends of the Huong River, Oriental Night, Nam Giao Rituals, etc., in addition to Russian ballets, Indian ritual dances, performances with bold tropical scents from the Caribbean Pearl and many other shows.

The closing ceremony organized on a floating stage on the Huong River is was a sweet goodbye. The next festival will be held in 2012.

"For the past 10 years, the festival has become a link between the past, the present and the future of the city," explained Nguyen Duy Hien, deputy head of the Hue Festival organising board during the closing ceremony. "It has also helped integrate the city with other parts of the nation and the world."

Ngo Hoa, Thua Thien-Hue Province People’s Committee Vice-Chair, announced that the festival was a brilliant success, and had seen a true harmonisation of traditional and modern elements. "Different cultures converged during the festival with their own nuances, but in the end they all demonstrated the spirit of exchange, solidarity, integration and development," maintained Hoa.

This year 70 arts troupes from 28 countries brought hundreds of unique art programmes to the festival. Over 6,500 artists, actors and actresses, along with around 3 million people, attended the event through community and fringe activities.

More than 500 journalists from 80 media and press agencies were also present at the event, and the city hosted roughly 120,400 domestic and nearly 28,600 foreign tourists.

"It’s time to say good-bye, but what the festival has brought to us will never fade away," Hoa said. "This is motivation for the province to preserve and promote the country’s cultural and artistic values, along with the tourism industry and socio-economic development."