More than 4,000 fans of the boy band Fahrenheit (飛輪海) gathered at the National Taiwan University auditorium yesterday afternoon to meet their idols in a concert that aimed to promote the tourism industry.
Although the event was scheduled to begin at 3pm, eager fans began lining up outside the auditorium in the morning to secure good spots.
Some fans were chosen to play games with their idols on stage and received prizes, including a three-day trip around Taiwan. Each fan also received a poster, an Easycard and a glowing fan featuring a group photo of Fahrenheit.
PHOTO: CNA
Wayne Liu (劉喜臨), director of the Tourism Bureau’s international affairs division, said Fahrenheit were the nation’s tourism ambassadors in Japan and South Korea this year, replacing their predecessor, boyband F4. He said that while F4 had been effective in generating interest among female fans in their late 30s and early 40s, Fahrenheit appeared to be the favorite among people in the 18-to-25 age group.
The event will be broadcast through Azio TV’s Asia network and the Internet service IM.TV, he said.
Aside from Japan and South Korea, the band also drew fans from Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines.
Statistics from the bureau showed that about 1.08 million Japanese tourists visited Taiwan last year, down 6.83 percent from 2007. Overall, approximately 16 million Japanese traveled abroad last year, a decrease of 7.6 percent from 2007.
While the value of the South Korean won dropped drastically last year, more than 250,000 South Koreans visited Taiwan, a growth of 11.71 percent from the previous year.
In related news, 1,310 diamond-class sales managers from Japan’s Daihatsu Motor will be arriving this week on a four-day tour offered by the company for top employees.
The bureau said this was the third time the company had organized the tour. Good food and friendliness toward Japanese were two of the main reasons why Taiwan was selected as the destination for the tour, the bureau said. While some arrived yesterday, the rest were scheduled to arrive at different times between now and next Tuesday.
The Daihatsu tour was preceded by one organized by the Japanese cosmetic firm POLA, which rewarded 1,300 sales representatives with a free trip to Taiwan last week.
A strong continental cold air mass and abundant moisture bringing snow to mountains 3,000m and higher over the past few days are a reminder that more than 60 years ago Taiwan had an outdoor ski resort that gradually disappeared in part due to climate change. On Oct. 24, 2021, the National Development Council posted a series of photographs on Facebook recounting the days when Taiwan had a ski resort on Hehuanshan (合歡山) in Nantou County. More than 60 years ago, when developing a branch of the Central Cross-Island Highway, the government discovered that Hehuanshan, with an elevation of more than 3,100m,
Death row inmate Huang Lin-kai (黃麟凱), who was convicted for the double murder of his former girlfriend and her mother, is to be executed at the Taipei Detention Center tonight, the Ministry of Justice announced. Huang, who was a military conscript at the time, was convicted for the rape and murder of his ex-girlfriend, surnamed Wang (王), and the murder of her mother, after breaking into their home on Oct. 1, 2013. Prosecutors cited anger over the breakup and a dispute about money as the motives behind the double homicide. This is the first time that Minister of Justice Cheng Ming-chien (鄭銘謙) has
TRANSPORT CONVENIENCE: The new ticket gates would accept a variety of mobile payment methods, and buses would be installed with QR code readers for ease of use New ticketing gates for the Taipei metro system are expected to begin service in October, allowing users to swipe with cellphones and select credit cards partnered with Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC), the company said on Tuesday. TRTC said its gates in use are experiencing difficulty due to their age, as they were first installed in 2007. Maintenance is increasingly expensive and challenging as the manufacturing of components is halted or becoming harder to find, the company said. Currently, the gates only accept EasyCard, iPass and electronic icash tickets, or one-time-use tickets purchased at kiosks, the company said. Since 2023, the company said it
Ferry operators are planning to provide a total of 1,429 journeys between Taiwan proper and its offshore islands to meet increased travel demand during the upcoming Lunar New Year holiday, the Maritime and Port Bureau said yesterday. The available number of ferry journeys on eight routes from Saturday next week to Feb. 2 is expected to meet a maximum transport capacity of 289,414 passengers, the bureau said in a news release. Meanwhile, a total of 396 journeys on the "small three links," which are direct ferries connecting Taiwan's Kinmen and Lienchiang counties with China's Fujian Province, are also being planned to accommodate
RSS