The fishery products, cuisine and landscape of Pingtung County are to be featured at this year’s Taiwan Lantern Festival in Pingtung City, which opens on Feb. 19.
Given its locale, this year’s festival for the first time will have a main lantern that is not based on the Chinese zodiac animal for the new lunar year, the Tourism Bureau said.
Instead of a pig, the main lantern is in the shape of a giant golden tuna jumping out of the sea, symbolizing the bluefin tuna that brings wealth to the county.
Photo: Chen Yen-ting, Taipei Times
This year will be the first time that the festival’s main show is to be held inside a national scenic area — the coastal area of Dapeng Bay (大鵬灣), it said.
It is offering more diversified festival travel packages to take advantage of Pingtung’s landscape, including night cruises, as the main lantern will be visible from the water since it will be placed above Dapeng Bay, the bureau said.
Organizers plan to leave the main lantern in place after the festival closes on March 3, so it can become a Dapeng Bay landmark.
Three well-known local specialties — tuna, dried Sergestidae shrimp and oilfish — are to be featured during the festival in the form of snacks available for purchase.
More than 100 shows featuring Taiwanese and performers from Japan, South Korea, Spain, France and Indonesia have been scheduled for the festival, including the French group ilotopie and an Intel drone light, the bureau said.
Tourists who purchase a full-package product that includes a Lantern Festival event from an overseas travel agent are to receive a small Year of the Pig hand-held DIY lantern, it said.
The festival attracts up to 10 million Taiwanese and foreign tourists annually, and the bureau expects the visitor numbers to be about the same for this year, the 30th annual festival, Tourism Bureau Director-General Chou Yung-hui (周永暉) said.
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