The nation welcomed its 3 millionth overseas visitor yesterday, the Tourism Bureau said yesterday.
Korean Kim In-tae, 33, was the lucky visitor. A businessman, Kim said he came here because of the popular Korean television series On Air. Kim said he is planning to spend four days checking out some of the scenic spots shown in the television series, such as the National Palace Museum and Yeliou (野柳).
Aside from receiving NT$300,000 spending money on his credit card, Kim will be given a bottle of the “Malasun Millet Wine” (馬拉桑小米酒) and glass beads that became famous after the release of the film Cape No. 7. The Malasun Millet Wine was produced by the Hsin-Yi Farmers Association in Nantou County. It was created specifically for the movie and eventually became available for retail sale.
The glass beads were produced in Sandimen Township in Pintung County and are accessories worn by people of the Aboriginal Rukai and Paiwan tribes.
The bureau said yesterday that it had met the 3 million benchmark earlier than scheduled. Last year, the 3 millionth visitor did not come until the end of October. In 2006, the 3 millionth visitor entered the country at the end of November.
The 1 millionth tourist this year came in April, whereas the 2 millionth arrived in July.
For this year, the bureau said it still aims to attract 4 million tourists from overseas. The bureau must strive to attract another 1 million overseas tourists within the remaining two-and-a-half months.
The linchpin, however, appears to be Chinese tourists.
The Central News Agency reported on Monday that Tourism Bureau Director-General Janice Lai (賴瑟珍), who is promoting tourism in China at the moment, said she hoped the goal of having 20,000 Chinese tourists visit Taiwan each month can be met by the end of this year.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
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Heat advisories were in effect for nine administrative regions yesterday afternoon as warm southwesterly winds pushed temperatures above 38°C in parts of southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 3:30pm yesterday, Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井) had recorded the day’s highest temperature of 39.7°C, though the measurement will not be included in Taiwan’s official heat records since Yujing is an automatic rather than manually operated weather station, the CWA said. Highs recorded in other areas were 38.7°C in Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門), 38.2°C in Chiayi City and 38.1°C in Pingtung’s Sandimen Township (三地門), CWA data showed. The spell of scorching