Tourists stroll a flower street at the 2007 Da Lat Flower Festival in the Central Highlands town

The third Da Lat Flower Festival will be delayed until New Year’s Day 2010 to coincide with activities marking Hanoi’s 1,000-year anniversary as the capital of Vietnam, according to local authorities.

The government has asked the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Hanoi People’s Committee to cooperate with Lam Dong authorities to organize the event, the first in a nationwide series of festivals kicking off the anniversary celebration.

Themed Da Lat, thanh pho ngan hoa (Da Lat, the town of thousands of flowers), the festival will overtake both the town’s center and Duc Trong District, just outside central Da Lat, organizers said.

The event’s General Director Nguyen Vu Hoang said Xuan Huong Lake at the center of Da Lat would be the focal point of the festival. Flower sculptures will be placed around the lake and a floating flower ceremony will be held on its waters.

The festival will also feature a flower market and an international flower and ornamental plants exhibition, Hoang said.

The biennial flower festival was first organized in 2005 and has since attracted thousands of local and foreign tourists.

Reported by Gia Binh