On the evening of August 11, Mr. Vũ Trọng Nghĩa, Head of Cultural Information Department of Cam Ranh City, released a press release concluding the Cam Ranh Lobster Festival 2024.
This is the first time the festival has been held in Cam Ranh, but it has received mixed opinions from visitors as there were no lobsters in sight. Instead, the festival mainly sold fast food such as fried fish cakes, fried potatoes, sausages, and Thai-style grilled food.
According to the press release, the organizing committee explained that they encountered some difficulties in implementing the lobster stalls during the festival.
According to the original plan, the festival had 19 food stalls, with 10 of them related to lobsters.
Due to some difficulties from the business units, the number of lobster stalls officially participating in the festival was 3 out of 19, including Cam Ranh Food, Quỳnh Quỳnh Cuisine, and Tôm Hùm Joint Stock Company.
In addition, since the festival's launch, the organizing committee has informed and contacted local restaurants and eateries to offer discounts on lobsters for local residents and tourists, ensuring a sufficient supply of lobsters to meet demand.
Although the organizing committee's press release stated that there were 3 lobster stalls, in reality, only 1 official lobster stall was available on the opening night, leaving tourists feeling deceived and disappointed.
Also in the press release, the organizing committee stated that the activities held throughout the festival from August 3 to 11 attracted over 30,000 visitors and over 2 million interactions and attentions on social media platforms.
During the festival, there were also other activities such as the Cooking Competition to create 120 dishes for the first time in Cam Ranh City, with the participation of 20 teams (including 60 contestants) from all over the country, and the judging panel consisted of cultural and culinary experts and famous chefs in Vietnam. After that, the VietKings Organization (VietKings) recognized the number of dishes made from Cam Ranh lobsters as 120 dishes.
Notably, the cooking process was organized internally, and the public, tourists, and the media were not allowed to observe the chefs cooking. It was only until the organizing committee announced the information that people became aware of it.
Local authorities acknowledge shortcomings in the festival organization
Regarding the Cam Ranh Lobster Festival 2024, which was held in the local area but left tourists "dazed" searching for lobsters, Mr. Lê Ngọc Thạch, Chairman of Cam Ranh City People's Committee, acknowledged shortcomings in the organization and will learn from the experience to organize future events.
Regarding the controversy surrounding the establishment of the record for 120 dishes made from Cam Ranh lobsters, but the public and media were not allowed to attend, the leaders of Cam Ranh City explained that the event was a cooking competition to establish a record, which was held in a limited space, and therefore, people could not access it. This was also a shortcoming of the organizing committee.
