Southern fruit festival begins in HCM City

HCM City, June 3 (VNA) - The 15th Southern Fruit Festival kicked off in Ho Chi Minh City on June 1, featuring a wide range of fruits. The three-month event is being jointly organised by the municipal Departments of Tourism, Trade and Industry and Agriculture and Rural Development. The event offers visitors a chance to buy safe fruits at prices 20-30 percent cheaper than that on the market. Vice Director of the municipal Department of Tourism Nguyen Thi Anh Hoa said visitors to the festival can tour a garden boasting exotic fruits grown in different parts of the country and a floating market selling ripe fruits. The festival aims to hounour and preserve the culture of the southern region in particular and Vietnam in general, she stressed. An art performance programm, a fruit procession, exhibitions of foods made from fruits, shows to make sculptures from fruits, and a competition for the best fruits, among others, are also included in the framework of the event, she added. The festival will last until August 31, 2019./.