Taiwan hopes to turn its location on the Tropic of Cancer into a magnet that draws tourists with diverse interests, the Tourism Bureau said. Taiwan can offer tourists the chance to follow the invisible Tropic of Cancer at latitude 23o 26 minutes north — on which only 16 countries in the world lie — to stay close to the sun on the summer solstice, tourism official Chou Shih-pi said.
The summer solstice in the northern hemisphere, which occurs on June 21, refers to when the sun is directly over the Tropic of Cancer.
Though the celestial phenomenon represents a mere moment in time, the bureau plans to showcase the sun and the fun it symbolizes as the centerpiece of its summer travel campaign, which is targeted specifically at tourists from colder countries, Chou said.
“We want to capitalize on the unique tropical ambiance created by that exact latitude to promote Taiwan as a great summer travel destination,” he said.
The bureau has been working with Hualien, Nantou, Chiayi and Penghu counties — through which the Tropic of Cancer crosses — to design tourist travel packages.
For example, tours could take in different parks in Hualien County featuring Tropic of Cancer markers or include a Chiayi elementary school named after the famed circle of latitude, he said.
Other tours will have food themes, giving visitors the chance to sample tastes such as smoked flying fish in eastern Taiwan’s Rift Valley or cactus ice-lollipops in outlying Penghu County.
The bureau is also considering holding special events, such as concerts, canoeing and triathlons, in a number of tourist spots along the Tropic of Cancer the tourism official said.
China has reserved offshore airspace in the Yellow Sea and East China Sea from March 27 to May 6, issuing alerts usually used to warn of military exercises, although no such exercises have been announced, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported yesterday. Reserving such a large area for 40 days without explanation is an “unusual step,” as military exercises normally only last a few days, the paper said. These alerts, known as Notice to Air Missions (Notams), “are intended to inform pilots and aviation authorities of temporary airspace hazards or restrictions,” the article said. The airspace reserved in the alert is
NAMING SPAT: The foreign ministry called on Denmark to propose an acceptable solution to the erroneous nationality used for Taiwanese on residence permits Taiwan has revoked some privileges for Danish diplomatic staff over a Danish permit that lists “Taiwan” as “China,” Eric Huang (黃鈞耀), head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Department of European Affairs, told a news conference in Taipei yesterday. Reporters asked Huang whether the Danish government had responded to the ministry’s request that it correct the nationality on Danish residence permits of Taiwanese, which has been listed as “China” since 2024. Taiwan’s representative office in Denmark continues to communicate with the Danish government, and the ministry has revoked some privileges previously granted to Danish representatives in Taiwan and would continue to review
More than 6,000 Taiwanese students have participated in exchange programs in China over the past two years, despite the Mainland Affairs Council’s (MAC) “orange light” travel advisory, government records showed. The MAC’s publicly available registry showed that Taiwanese college and university students who went on exchange programs across the Strait numbered 3,592 and 2,966 people respectively. The National Immigration Agency data revealed that 2,296 and 2,551 Chinese students visited Taiwan for study in the same two years. A review of the Web sites of publicly-run universities and colleges showed that Taiwanese higher education institutions continued to recruit students for Chinese educational programs without
The first bluefin tuna of the season, brought to shore in Pingtung County and weighing 190kg, was yesterday auctioned for NT$10,600 (US$333.5) per kilogram, setting a record high for the local market. The auction was held at the fish market in Donggang Fishing Harbor, where the Siaoliouciou Island-registered fishing vessel Fu Yu Ching No. 2 delivered the “Pingtung First Tuna” it had caught for bidding. Bidding was intense, and the tuna was ultimately jointly purchased by a local restaurant and a local company for NT$10,600 per kilogram — NT$300 ,more than last year — for a total of NT$2.014 million. The 67-year-old skipper
RSS