Taking place when the temperature was around 3 degrees Celsius and the entire town was enveloped in the mist, the opening ceremony featured a lighting festival with spectacular lighting performances and cheerful songs and dances.
Stalls are also set up across the streets, showcasing Sapa brocade products, traditional handicraft products, and souvenirs.
The highlight of the festival is an artificial snow space in an area of nearly 10,000 square metres with many impressive check-in points, attracting thousands of visitors.
Tourists to the festival can also experience cultural essence culture of local ethnic minorities in Sapa through their traditional music instruments, folk games and indigenous delicacies.
Traditional ethnic festivals such as a fire dance festival and ‘cap sac’ ritual – a rite of passage declaring the coming-of-age of Dao men within the community, will also be staged during the week-long event.
According to Vice Chairman of Sapa District People’s Committee, the Winter Festival is among a series of activities being held under the framework of the National Tourism Year 2017, aiming to boost tourism in the locality. The 2017 event targets to welcome 40,000 tourists at home and abroad.
