Promoting the nation's tourist attractions on an international scale can be a challenging task, but in addition to documentaries on the Discovery and National Geographic channels, the nation's tourism bureau has also managed to use a popular sports network to spread the word about Taiwan's scenic spots.
The tourism bureau's director-general, Janice Lai (賴瑟珍), said yesterday that a special series introducing New York Yankees starting pitcher Wang Chien-ming (王建民) will be aired during ESPN's Baseball Tonight, a program broadcast on weekdays that is devoted to coverage of Major League Baseball (MLB).
While the program usually recaps the day's Big League action, it occasionally features a special report about outstanding foreign players or pitchers in the MLB.
Lai said the program would feature Wang talking about himself, his home in Tainan County, his love for Taiwanese food and the places he has visited in Taiwan.
Images of the items Wang mentions, such as Taipei 101, will be shown in the background.
ESPN will determine what they film, Lai added.
10 episodes
The special series will be broadcast in 10 episodes, with each lasting two minutes.
Lai said the entire project would cost the bureau NT$10 million (US$303,000).
The tourism bureau said the first episode would be shown in Taiwan next Tuesday.
The features will also be aired in the US some time at the beginning of next month.
The bureau said the broadcasts are estimated to reach approximately 100 million households in the US.
Wang's standout performances have made him a star in the US media. During the post-baseball season last year, Fox News produced a program featuring Wang's hometown of Tainan.
This year, Time magazine listed Wang as one of the 100 most influential artists and entertainers in the world.
Lai described the deal as a "really good bargain" and "a rare opportunity," given that the cost of any 30-second TV spot would likely exceed the stated sum.
Lai also emphasized that there are many award-winning documentaries about Taiwan, but they can only be seen in Taiwan.
"One of my marketing strategies this year is to buy air time," she said.
She added that the bureau had also earned a lot of free media coverage of Taiwan. For example, Lai appeared in a Discovery Channel program called The Thirsty Traveler, where she treated the program host to a bottle of old Matzu wine.
"This shows that you can create a huge effect with just a small investment," she said.
CAUTION: Based on intelligence from the nation’s security agencies, MOFA has cautioned Taiwanese travelers about heightened safety risks in China-friendly countries The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday urged Taiwanese to be aware of their safety when traveling abroad, especially in countries that are friendly to China. China in June last year issued 22 guidelines that allow its courts to try in absentia and sentence to death so-called “diehard” Taiwanese independence activists, even though Chinese courts have no jurisdiction in Taiwan. Late last month, a senior Chinese official gave closed-door instructions to state security units to implement the guidelines in countries friendly to China, a government memo and a senior Taiwan security official said, based on information gathered by Taiwan’s intelligence agency. The
The National Immigration Agency (NIA) said yesterday that it will revoke the dependent-based residence permit of a Chinese social media influencer who reportedly “openly advocated for [China’s] unification through military force” with Taiwan. The Chinese national, identified by her surname Liu (劉), will have her residence permit revoked in accordance with Article 14 of the “Measures for the permission of family- based residence, long-term residence and settlement of people from the Mainland Area in the Taiwan Area,” the NIA said in a news release. The agency explained it received reports that Liu made “unifying Taiwan through military force” statements on her online
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, said yesterday that it is looking to hire 8,000 people this year, at a time when the tech giant is expanding production capacity to maintain its lead over competitors. To attract talent, TSMC would launch a large-scale recruitment campaign on campuses across Taiwan, where a newly recruited engineer with a master’s degree could expect to receive an average salary of NT$2.2 million (US$60,912), which is much higher than the 2023 national average of NT$709,000 for those in the same category, according to government statistics. TSMC, which accounted for more than 60 percent
A magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck off Taitung County at 1:09pm today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 53km northeast of Taitung County Hall at a depth of 12.5km, CWA data showed. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Taitung County and Hualien County on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Nantou County, Chiayi County, Yunlin County, Kaohsiung and Tainan, the data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage following the quake.
RSS