Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman’s Rubber Duck has yet to arrive, but it is already giving a much-needed boost to Greater Kaohsiung’s tourism industry, as hotels and restaurants in the city prepare to welcome it next month.
According to city officials, hotel reservations for the Mid-Autumn Festival holiday period — Sept. 19 to Sept. 22 — are up 30 percent so far compared with the same period last year.
The giant yellow rubber duck is scheduled to dock at the Glory Pier (光榮碼頭) next month as part of its global tour of “spreading joy around the world.”
Photo: Huang Hsu-lei, Taipei Times
Greater Kaohsiung Tourism Bureau Director Hsu Chuan-sheng (許傳盛) said he recently met with local hoteliers to discuss designing one or two-day packages for tourists coming to see the duck.
He estimated that Greater Kaohsiung could attract at least 3 million visitors during the duck’s one-month stay.
“Revenues from related businesses could reach about NT$1 billion [US$33.2 million],” he added.
Photo: Huang Hsu-lei, Taipei Times
Hsu said that limited-edition souvenirs were a big hit during the Rubber Duck’s stay at Hong Kong’s Victoria Harbor in May, with some of the products selling out in three days.
“For its run in Kaohsiung, we are planning to have rubber duck toys, postcards, T-shirts and other souvenir products,” he said, adding that information would soon be posted on the bureau’s Web site.
The Howard Plaza Hotel in Greater Kaohsiung has already installed a 3m-high inflatable yellow duck next to its main entrance.
According to the hotel’s public relations officer, Liu Chia-chen (劉佳貞), more than 100 visitors have had their photographs taken with it in just one week’s time.
“We are offering an accommodation package that includes two free rubber duckies and a free cruise around Kaohsiung Harbor to let visitors observe the giant rubber duck from different angles,” she said.
The hotel’s Jiannanchun Restaurant will offer a specialty roast duck dish, she said, adding that “the skin of the duck will be roasted to a bright juicy golden-brown and a chef will carve it right by diners’ tables to demonstrate his skill.”
Kaohsiung’s 85-story Tuntex Sky Tower is preparing cocktail concoctions named after Hofman’s creation, including “Hello Rubber” and “E-Be Duck” to go with “Yellow Duck Mousse,” which is made of pineapple slices and gelatin.
Hotel manager Chen Yu-hua (陳怡樺) recommended booking rooms on select floors that offer an unobstructed view of the harbor to view the giant duck.
Excellent views are also on offer at Fullon Hotel Kaohsiung, with many suites overlooking the Glory Pier.
“For the Mid-Autumn Festival holiday period next month, the suites are now almost all booked up. Our business revenue is expected to increase by more than 30 percent,” hotel vice general manager Lin Pao-lo (林保羅) said.
The duck is set to visit Greater Kaohsiung from Sept. 19 to Oct. 20 before moving to Taoyuan County, where it will stay from Oct. 26 to Nov. 10. It will then drop anchor at Keelung Harbor for six weeks starting on Dec. 21.
According to Keelung City Council Speaker Huang Ching-tai (黃景泰), the visit of the massive floating sculpture could bring as much as NT$1 billion in revenue to the city.
Keelung hopes the duck will attract 5 million visitors, Huang added.
The economic boost aside, the giant yellow duck is also set to bring smiles to the residents of the port city, which Huang said has been ranked the least happy city in the country for five years running.
Greater Taichung is also reportedly in talks to host the outsize visitor.
Additional reporting by CNA
Taiwan has received more than US$70 million in royalties as of the end of last year from developing the F-16V jet as countries worldwide purchase or upgrade to this popular model, government and military officials said on Saturday. Taiwan funded the development of the F-16V jet and ended up the sole investor as other countries withdrew from the program. Now the F-16V is increasingly popular and countries must pay Taiwan a percentage in royalties when they purchase new F-16V aircraft or upgrade older F-16 models. The next five years are expected to be the peak for these royalties, with Taiwan potentially earning
STAY IN YOUR LANE: As the US and Israel attack Iran, the ministry has warned China not to overstep by including Taiwanese citizens in its evacuation orders The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday rebuked a statement by China’s embassy in Israel that it would evacuate Taiwanese holders of Chinese travel documents from Israel amid the latter’s escalating conflict with Iran. Tensions have risen across the Middle East in the wake of US and Israeli airstrikes on Iran beginning Saturday. China subsequently issued an evacuation notice for its citizens. In a news release, the Chinese embassy in Israel said holders of “Taiwan compatriot permits (台胞證)” issued to Taiwanese nationals by Chinese authorities for travel to China — could register for evacuation to Egypt. In Taipei, the ministry yesterday said Taiwan
Taiwan is awaiting official notification from the US regarding the status of the Agreement on Reciprocal Trade (ART) after the US Supreme Court ruled US President Donald Trump's global tariffs unconstitutional. Speaking to reporters before a legislative hearing today, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said that Taiwan's negotiation team remains focused on ensuring that the bilateral trade deal remains intact despite the legal challenge to Trump's tariff policy. "The US has pledged to notify its trade partners once the subsequent administrative and legal processes are finalized, and that certainly includes Taiwan," Cho said when asked about opposition parties’ doubts that the ART was
If China chose to invade Taiwan tomorrow, it would only have to sever three undersea fiber-optic cable clusters to cause a data blackout, Jason Hsu (許毓仁), a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator, told a US security panel yesterday. In a Taiwan contingency, cable disruption would be one of the earliest preinvasion actions and the signal that escalation had begun, he said, adding that Taiwan’s current cable repair capabilities are insufficient. The US-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC) yesterday held a hearing on US-China Competition Under the Sea, with Hsu speaking on
RSS