Nha Trang Sea Festival

Origins and early editions

The festival was first held in Nha Trang in 2003, with more than 20 cultural, tourism and sports activities, under the theme "Nha Trang, Meeting Point", a theme repeated for the second and third editions in 2005 and 2007^[1]. From the fourth edition, held in 2009 under the theme "Nha Trang, Khánh Hòa civilised and friendly", the festival grew larger: the fifth edition, in 2011, carried over 50 events under the theme "Nha Trang, the Sea's Promise", and the sixth, in 2013, carried over 60 events and drew over 100,000 tourist visits^[1].

The seventh edition, in 2015, was themed "Peace and Creativity" and drew about 150,000 tourist visits; the eighth, in 2017, carried the theme "Expanding the Circle of Friendship"^[1]. The ninth edition, under the theme "Colours of the Sea", was announced for 10 to 13 May 2019 and closed on 14 May with an art performance, the province's then Vice Chairman Nguyễn Đắc Tài speaking at the closing ceremony of what he called four festive days; it was organised as part of Visit Vietnam Year 2019, and its programme included a whale worship festival, a street festival, a culinary festival, a salangane nest festival, folk games, a traditional human chess tournament and an international conference on sustainable development, drawing over 143,000 visitors^[2].

The tenth edition and the pandemic gap

No festival was held in 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic^[1]. The festival resumed with its tenth edition, held 3 to 6 June 2023 under the theme "Khánh Hòa, Aspiration for Development"^[1].

The 2025 substitute festival

In 2025 the province did not hold the Sea Festival under its long-running name. Citing the administrative mergers then under way, it instead ran a differently branded, month-long event called "Nha Trang say Hi!", a sea culture and tourism festival held from 7 June to 9 July 2025 with 36 cultural, sporting and artistic activities, launched by the provincial People's Committee on 9 May 2025^[3]. The province had aimed for the event period to help draw over 1.5 million visitors, part of a broader 2025 target of 11.8 million tourist arrivals, though a later report put actual visitor arrivals over the period at over 667,000, of which about 290,000 stayed overnight^[3][5].

The 2026 Khanh Hoa Sea Festival

The festival returned in 2026 as the Khánh Hòa Sea Festival, opening on the evening of 17 July at 2 Tháng 4 Square in Nha Trang under the theme "Colours of the Ocean, Reaching International Heights"^[4]. The main festival ran for three days, 17 to 19 July, with related activities held across the province from 10 July to 10 August^[5]. The provincial chairman, Nguyễn Việt Hùng, said the festival gathered nearly 50 cultural, artistic, sporting and tourism activities across July and August; a separate report on the opening days put the core programme at about 30 activities^[4][5]. Vice President Võ Thị Ánh Xuân attended the opening and, in her remarks, described the festival as having run for "10 editions since 2003"^[4].

Organisers set a target of 600,000 to 800,000 domestic and international visitors for the 2026 festival period^[5]. Some accounts of the festival's history count the 2026 edition as the eleventh since 2003, a count that differs from the number given by the Vice President at the opening; both figures are given here because no single fetched source reconciles them^[1][4].