Foreign nationals can win a free trip to Taiwan by simply uploading a photo, a government official said at a press conference held to launch the nation’s latest tourism campaign.
The photo contest, titled Say Hi to Taiwan, was organized to make Taiwan better-known among international travelers, Government Information Office (GIO) spokesman Philip Yang (楊永明) said yesterday.
Yang said the contest is part of the government’s efforts to boost the number of tourists arriving in the country.
He added that the goal this year is to surpass 5 million visitors.
Participants in the competition only need to upload a photo that incorporates at least one of the following themes: “Taiwan,” “hello,” “love” and “friend.”
An online vote will then be conducted to choose the photo that best represents each of these themes.
Winners will receive a travel allowance of NT$100,000 for use on a Dec. 12 to Dec. 19 tour of Taiwan, the campaign Web site says.
“This is a great idea for those who do not have the money to travel here,” said Trixie Ballesteros from the Philippines, a spokeswoman for the campaign who resides in Taiwan.
The 26-year-old has told all her friends and family abroad to enter the contest so that they can have a chance not only to visit her, but also get a glimpse of Taiwan’s diverse scenery.
Ballesteros, a graduate student, said she traveled around the island in six days, and she lauded the convenience of public transport and the friendliness of the people.
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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