The Ministry of Culture has announced discounts and incentives to encourage people to visit the Taipei International Book Exhibition next month.
The ministry said it is aiming to encourage people to support Taiwan’s publishing industry and creators by purchasing books at the event, which is to take place at the Taipei World Trade Center Exhibition Hall 1 from Feb. 20 to 25.
After years of careful evaluation, the Taipei Book Fair Foundation has raised ticket prices for the first time in two decades to NT$150 for regular tickets and NT$100 for concession tickets, both up by NT$50 from previous years, the ministry said.
Photo: Liu Tzu-hsuan, Taipei Times
With the extra resources, the foundation hopes to improve the quality of the exhibition and enhance the experience for visitors, it added.
To encourage purchases, the ministry is to provide visitors with vouchers equivalent to the cost of the tickets they purchase, it said.
The vouchers can be used for a single purchase on the day they are valid for with no minimum spending requirement, it said.
As part of the ministry’s Young Adult Culture Vouchers initiative launched last year, people aged 18 to 21 received 1,200 “culture points” — equivalent to NT$1,200 — to be used at art and cultural activities, the ministry said.
The initiative is to be expanded to include those aged 16 to 22 from Jan. 20, meaning that young people can receive the points for up to seven years, it said.
Those who use culture points to purchase exhibition tickets or books at the event would be eligible for bonus points up to a maximum of 600 points, it said.
To encourage people to visit on weekdays, notebooks and bags would be given to people who spend more than NT$500 and NT$1,000 respectively outside weekends, it said.
People who spend more than NT$1,000 on a weekday would also go in a draw to win a round-trip flight to Tokyo, the ministry said.
As in previous years, people under 18 and foreigners can attend the exhibition free of charge, the ministry said, adding that people who present a Taiwan Railway Corp or high-speed rail ticket purchased on the day of entry from stations outside of Taipei, New Taipei City and Keelung would also be granted free entrance.
Advance tickets to the exhibition are to go on sale later this month at ibon kiosks at 7-Eleven convenience stores or through the Klook booking platform, it added.
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