Southern fruit festival to shine in June

The 12th Southern fruit festival is scheduled to take place in the Suoi Tien Area of Ho Chi Minh City’s District 9 from June 1 to 9.
The annual event will feature a Viet Nam fruit week to promote local specialties in supermarkets, shopping malls and hotels across the city.
Its highlight is a floating fruit market selling more than 150 kinds of fruit at discounts of between 20 and 30 percent. The market with its 50 boats will be open for three months.
Other activities include a fruit parade, a collection of rare and giant fruits, and a fruit safety contest.
Began in 2004, the festival has become a popular cultural tourism event, promoting the agricultural values of Viet Nam and the Southern region in particular.
Fruit cultivation spans 415,800ha of land in the southern region and produces around 4.3 million tonnes per year, accounting for 53.2 percent and 57 percent of the country’s area and output.