The annual New Year celebration activity drew more than 3 million visitors to the festival venue, which was located around the city’s Hoan Kiem Lake and Dinh Tien Hoang Street, a senior official estimated.

Nguyen Khac Loi, deputy head of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, said this year’s crowds certainly outnumbered last year’s 3 million visitors however, the festival’s security was much better.

Now in its third year, the festival has previously witnessed ugly scenes in which locals jostled to pluck, touch, and take pictures with the flowers, or bring them home. Most of the exhibition had been badly damaged by the time the event concluded every year.

To cope with the situation, the local government placed heavy security around the site this year, and strung rope around each installation to prevent visitors from getting too close,.

On the third day, organizers removed the ropes at some of the replicas, but later changed their mind when the crowd poured in and damaged the flowers.

After the festival, organizers will dispose of the flowers in order to prevent what happened last year, when visitors elbowed each other as they tried to bring them home.

Also, unlike in the original plan, authorities will not sell the flowers to visitors either.