Lead paragraph
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Da Nang, a port city in central Vietnam, will hold the “Đà Nẵng Food Tour 2026” over five days, May 20–24, 2026. The venues are Dong Hai Park (East Sea Park) and the Tam Thanh Beach square area. It’s a large-scale food festival kicking off with a parade of 70 shoulder-pole-style stalls lining the coastline, with over 100 booths operating from 4 p.m. until 11 p.m. The organizer is the Da Nang Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism. Under the theme “The Essence of Quang Regional Cuisine,” it puts forward a new concept of a five-senses experience—“see, touch, and taste”—spanning local seafood and home-style dishes to international cuisine.
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Details of the originating news
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According to a press conference by the Da Nang People’s Committee, a shoulder-pole parade titled “Gánh vị Đà Nẵng (Carrying the Taste of Da Nang)” sets off at 5 p.m. on the opening day, May 20. Recreating the street-vending culture of central Vietnam, the procession is made up of 70 gánh hàng (shoulder-pole stalls) with inventively crafted decorations. At 7:30 p.m. the next day, the 21st, a formal opening ceremony is held at Dong Hai Park, launching the five-day festival in earnest.
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In addition to local specialties—mi quang, banh xeo, banh trang cuon (rice-paper rolls), and grilled seafood—the booths serve dishes from Southeast Asian countries and summer drinks. A “gastronomy passport” is handed out to visitors, with a system where collecting stamps at each booth lets you exchange them for prizes.
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Background and full picture
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Da Nang is one of Vietnam’s premier resort cities, welcoming over 8.6 million tourists a year in 2019. After a period of recovery following the pandemic, it has regained momentum, with foreign overnight guests surging 62-fold year on year in the first quarter of 2023. This Food Tour is not a one-off event but is positioned as the starting point of five year-round food-tour programs (Da Nang, Hoi An, Dien Ban, Tam Ky, and Dai Loc) to be rolled out from May onward.
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The city has clearly set out a policy of “elevating gastronomy into a tourism product,” aiming to advance the hygiene management and branding of street food simultaneously.Combining the appeal of Da Nang’s summer tourismwith food culture, it’s a strategy to extend the length of stay.
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“Đà Nẵng Food Tour 2026” by the numbers
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| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| Event name | Đà Nẵng Food Tour 2026 |
| Dates | May 20–24, 2026 (5 days) |
| Main venue | Dong Hai Park / Tam Thanh Beach square (Da Nang) |
| Hours | 16:00〜23:00 |
| Number of shoulder-pole stalls | 70 (for the parade) |
| Total number of booths | Over 100 |
| Organizer | Da Nang Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism |
| Theme | The Essence of Quang Regional Cuisine (Tinh hoa ẩm thực xứ Quảng) |
| Parade start | May 20, 17:00 |
| Opening ceremony | May 21, 19:30 |
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Local and industry reaction
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Nguyen Thi Anh Thi, Vice Chair of the Da Nang People’s Committee, explained this year’s festival as “a new approach that transforms local food culture into a multisensory experience where visitors touch it, feel it, and live it together.”
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The Vietnamese travel media outlet “Danang Fantasticity” praised the 70-stall shoulder-pole parade as “the most vividly condensed staging of central Vietnam’s street culture,” reporting in a tone that expects a spread at home and abroad through social media appeal.
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Local restaurant owners have voiced support: “We welcome the policy of developing it into a year-round food tour rather than ending as a one-off event for tourists.” On the other hand, some point out that “how thoroughly hygiene management and price control are enforced is the challenge.”
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Nha Trang’s summer festivaland other food-and-tourism fusion events are increasing across Vietnam, intensifying competition between cities.
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Impact on readers
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For those planning a Da Nang trip in late May, this Food Tour is well worth building into your itinerary. In a beachside night-market style, you can circle through local flavors all at once, and the stamp-rally format also boosts the motivation to snack around. For Japanese residents of Da Nang, too, it’ll be a good chance to try street-food dishes they don’t usually go for.
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Also, because it’s the starting-point event for year-round food tours, even if you can’t go in May, there’s the option of joining food tours in nearby cities like Hoi An and Tam Ky within the year.In the context of Vietnamese tourism chasing Thailand, enriching such food events holds the key to winning repeat visitors.
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Ripple effects on the industry
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The “tourism commercialization of gastronomy” that Da Nang advocates has the potential to spread to Vietnam’s other cities. Street-food culture is deeply rooted in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi too, but examples of a government-led trinity of hygiene, branding, and tourism are still few. If it succeeds, it will become a model case for other cities.
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For food-related companies, it’s also promising as a venue for test marketing through exhibiting. Being able to directly confirm consumer reactions at an event gathering over 100 booths provides material for decisions on new-product development and market entry.
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Practical information
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| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| Access | About 15 minutes by car from Da Nang International Airport |
| Nearest area | Around My Khe Beach |
| Hours | 16:00–23:00 (same for all five days) |
| Parade | May 20, from 17:00 (free to watch) |
| Year-round tours | From May onward, the five courses of Da Nang, Hoi An, Dien Ban, Tam Ky, and Dai Loc will be rolled out in sequence |
| How to enjoy it | Collect stamps with the gastronomy passport → exchange for prizes |
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Summary
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The “Đà Nẵng Food Tour 2026” is a five-senses food festival with a parade of 70 shoulder-pole stalls as its centerpiece. It’s a symbolic event in Da Nang’s strategy to transform from a mere beach resort into a “food destination,” and it’s also the starting point of year-round food tours. If you plan to visit central Vietnam in late May, why not build it into your itinerary?
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Source:Dân Trí、Danang Fantasticity
