Attend the First Quang Nam Cultural Food Festival 2023 Without Using Cash.

A Special Festival in the Land of Quang Nam

According to the organizers, this year's Quang Nam Cultural Food Festival will run from December 30, 2023, to January 1, 2024, at Hoai River Square in Hoi An City, Quang Nam Province.

The festival features approximately 50 booths showcasing regional dishes to serve the public. Here, visitors will have the opportunity to experience and savor the specialties of Quang Nam Province as well as other regions such as Hue, Da Nang, Binh Dinh, and more. Within the festival grounds, for the first time, a culinary map will be displayed, highlighting the unique and outstanding culinary products from various regions.

The organizers also emphasized that this year's event will include activities at the booths, culinary exchanges between provinces and countries, and Quang-style noodle cooking demonstrations. Additionally, the festival will host various exciting activities, including making traditional Quang-style noodles, selecting representative dishes of Quang, friendship gatherings, an honoring ceremony, and artistic performances.

Quang Nam, as represented by its organizing committee, has gained recognition not only for its breathtaking landscapes and UNESCO World Heritage sites but also for its rich culinary heritage. Particularly renowned for its culinary arts and flavorful Eastern Asian dishes.

In recent times, several Quảng Nam dishes have received accolades and prestigious mentions from reputable national and international travel magazines and organizations. For instance, Hội An's signature dish, Cao Lầu, was featured in CNN's list of the best noodles in Asia in 2020, and it continued to be highlighted as one of the finest noodle dishes in Asia in their 2022 edition for first-time travelers to Asia.

Between 2020 and 2021, the Vietnam Guinness World Records recognized six Quảng Nam specialties among the top 100 specialty dishes and top 100 gift specialties of Vietnam. These included “Mỳ Quảng”, “Cơm Gà Hội An”, “Mực Cơm Biển Bình Minh”, “Phở Sắn Đông Phú”, and “Gà Tre Đèo Le”.

Moreover, in the year 2023, the Vietnamese Culinary Culture Association singled out three Quảng Nam dishes, namely “Mỳ Quảng”, “Cao Lầu”, and “Bánh Dập”, as representative entries in their list of Vietnam's iconic culinary creations.

Unique Highlights of the Quang Nam 2023 Culinary Cultural Festival

Especially, this year's Quang Nam Cultural Food Festival is significantly different from previous traditional events. The festival has eliminated the use of cash entirely, instead opting for an innovative ticketing system and the utilization of QR codes throughout the event. This festival is implementing the SmartDex smart ticketing system and the iTourism digital platform, operated and invested in by VietISO Corporation.

Visitors have two options to purchase tickets for the festival. The first option is to buy tickets online through the Visit Quang Nam app and receive a QR code directly within the app and via email. The second option allows visitors to purchase tickets directly at the organizer's ticket counters and receive a paper voucher with a QR code.

This QR code will be used throughout the festival for all transactions, balance checks, and refunds if visitors decide not to use their tickets. After ordering food or products, visitors can present their QR code to the respective booth or scan the QR code provided by the booth for payment.

Visitors who wish to check their voucher balance can do so directly through the Visit Quang Nam app or by presenting the QR code on the paper voucher to the festival organizers.

Additionally, participating booths will digitize their menus, and update food items and prices on the iTourism digital platform, allowing visitors to place orders directly through the platform. Once an order is placed and payment is made, these transactions will be automatically recorded on the platform, enabling the festival organizers and booth owners to monitor the revenue generated by each booth during the festival.

"Not only embracing the digital transformation and the application of technology in the event's logistics, organization, and management but this year, the Quang Nam 2023 Cultural Food Festival also prioritizes environmental protection and food safety criteria.

According to the organizers, the festival will meticulously inspect the food safety process, from the selection of ingredients, and processing, to waste management. Food products will undergo thorough scrutiny regarding their origins to ensure they meet food safety standards and pose no harm to consumers' health.

Furthermore, as per the organizers' announcement, the festival will bid farewell to plastic bags. Instead of using plastic bags, eco-friendly products and materials that are kind to nature and the environment will be employed throughout the event.

Summary

The integration of digital transformation into the Quang Nam 2023 Cultural and Culinary Festival not only promotes digital transformation within the local tourism industry of Quang Nam Province but also represents a significant step towards fulfilling Vietnam's national digital transformation goals. This initiative showcases Vietnam's commitment to embracing digitalization in the modern era, and it contributes to the nation's overall development amid the global digital transformation landscape.