Civilized festivals through digitization
The 4-km Yen Stream waterway leading pilgrims to the Huong Son Complex, home to the famed Huong Pagoda, has historically faced overloaded boats, missing life jackets and fare disputes.
In the Spring Festival 2026, however, the waterway presented a markedly different scene: passengers uniformly wearing orange life jackets in line with rules, boats strictly adhering to capacity limits, and no motorized vessels allowed. Drones periodically patrolled overhead, acting as "electronic eyes" to monitor transport operations and support handling of violations.
To deliver a safe and orderly festival, the Huong Pagoda Festival organizing board developed advance infrastructure and operational plans, integrating digital tools comprehensively. AI-powered camera systems now oversee high-traffic spots such as Huong Tich Cave, Thien Tru Pagoda and cable car stations.
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Young locals explore Co Loa Citadel in digital space (Photo: nhandan.vn) |
All 1,033 traditional boats, 2,636 rowboats and six electric boats have been registered, inspected and equipped with QR codes. Visitors or authorities can scan these codes to report irregularities involving boat operators directly to organizers, enabling rapid and transparent settlement.
At the Co Loa Festival in Dong Anh commune's historic Co Loa Citadel area, numerous artifacts and items have been digitized. For 2026, digital platforms now include added interactive maps, information layers and media content, letting visitors access historical details instantly via mobile devices.
Festival grounds feature a Digital Heritage Space and Digital Traditional Festival zone with activities like 360-degree virtual reality tours, 3D hologram displays and augmented reality recreations of the Co Loa Festival. Attendees use VR headsets to tour the relic site, explore the legend of the magic crossbow, view digitized 3D artifacts and scan QR codes for details on history, architecture and documents.
Similar digital apps have been rolled out at other key Hanoi festivals this season, including the Giong Festival at Soc Temple, the Hai Ba Trung Temple Festival, and the Dong Da Mound Festival. Prominent heritage sites such as the Temple of Literature, Tay Ho Temple and Tran Quoc Pagoda have also deployed digital monitoring, creating a refreshed image for traditional festivities. Incidents of jostling, disputes or traffic congestion have been promptly detected and responded through surveillance systems.
Shaping new-era festivals
Hanoi hosts about 1,500 festivals of various scales. Recently, digital adoption focused mainly on promotion and communications, with management applications limited to select relic sites, such as Tay Ho Temple's earlier use of surveillance cameras to curb social misconducts.
For the Spring Festival 2026, proven models like Tay Ho Temple's have scaled across most major events. Localities introduced broader innovations, applying digital transformation to heritage promotion, civilized behavior encouragement, security, order maintenance and environmental protection.
Assoc. Prof., Dr. Bui Hoai Son, a full-time member of the National Assembly’s Committee for Culture and Social Affairs, stressed that technology should serve as a supportive instrument for better heritage management and preservation, rather than overshadowing essential traditional rituals.
Source: VNA