There are many stories and comments about Hue Festival which are still being told. With foreign artists, Festival Hue is a wonderful destination. Christoffer Budtz, the lead singer of the band Stoffer and Maskinen from Denmark, shared before the concert that he thought it was hard for audiences to understand clearly lyrics. But in general, his songs were all about the love and life so he expected audiences to feel rhythms through hearts. Christoffer Budtz brought visitors his great performances and made audiences totally immersed in his charismatic voice. At the end of the performance, he shouted out “I love Hue, I love Vietnam”, surprising tourists greatly. Not only Christoffer Budtz but also almost all international artists shared their proud feeling when coming to Hue and wished to come back one more time.
For a secure and successful festival, thousands of local polices, soldiers, workers and officials have worked their best for the past month. While tens of thousands tourists passionately contemplated art, cuisine and fashion, polices and soldiers had to turn his back to the stage to watch over the crowd. While hundreds of honor guests enjoyed banquet of “Ngu Yen party”, officials and guards of Hue Citadel had to serve seriously.
A lieutenant in charge of security in the “Royal night” event, when asked about the remuneration in one day, just smiled and said that it was his mission and responsibility, therefore no remuneration at all. Mr. Ngo Hoa, the Vice Chairman of Hue People’s Committee and the Chief Organizer of Hue Festival 2014 also emphasized in the closing ceremony that the festival was held thanks to local resources and efforts of officials and Hue people. If all participants in all activities were paid, it would be such a huge amount that Hue city could not afford.
Knowing such difficulties helps to be sympathetic to frustrated comments of tourists and journalists when taking part in the festival. Take the program of fire arranged on Trang Tien Bridge on April 18th as an example! That a numerous number of tourists and local people flocked to Perfume River caused the risk of overloading and insecurity. The influx was stopped immediately. There were many tourists not satisfied about that incident. However, they did not know that polices had to obey command to ensure the safety of tourists.
Hue Festival 2014 attracted 1400 artists from 43 international troupes and 23 domestic troupes, 740 reporters and journalists of 131 Vietnam media agencies and 11 foreign ones and 2.4 millions participants. That number created a tremendous pressure on Hue traffic, security and sanitation. Nonetheless, there was fortunately no major incident. Hue City has proved its professionalism to be the festival city of Vietnam and the destination of safety, friendliness and hospitality.