The Kaohsiung World Games generated NT$2 billion (US$60.8 million) in tourism revenue for the city, the city’s Tourism Bureau said yesterday.
Bureau Director-General Lin Kun-shan (林崑山) said 259,083 tourists visited Kaohsiung during the 11 days of the Games, a 68 percent increase over the same period last year.
About 1.24 million people visited the World Games Expo, with each visitor spending an average of NT$1,406, Lin said.
The city’s 11 department stores reported turnover of NT$600 million — a 15 percent growth in sales — while the turnover at hotels was NT$200 million, he said.
A total of 274,769 Games tickets were sold, bringing in NT$63.3 million, Lin said, adding that NT$11.2 million in tickets were sold for the opening ceremony dance sports events brought in NT$10.2 million.
Information Office Director-General Hsu Ming-chun (許銘春) said a minimum of 8 million people nationwide watched the live broadcast of the opening ceremony while 4.4 million people watched the closing ceremony.
“In the past, when people described Kaohsiung, they usually called it ‘the second-biggest city in Taiwan’ or talked about the volume of containers at the Kaohsiung Harbor,” Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊) said.
“But from now on, we can tell the world that Kaohsiung hosted the most successful World Games ever in 2009,” she said.
Taiwanese can file complaints with the Tourism Administration to report travel agencies if their activities caused termination of a person’s citizenship, Mainland Affairs Council Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday, after a podcaster highlighted a case in which a person’s citizenship was canceled for receiving a single-use Chinese passport to enter Russia. The council is aware of incidents in which people who signed up through Chinese travel agencies for tours of Russia were told they could obtain Russian visas and fast-track border clearance, Chiu told reporters on the sidelines of an event in Taipei. However, the travel agencies actually applied
New measures aimed at making Taiwan more attractive to foreign professionals came into effect this month, the National Development Council said yesterday. Among the changes, international students at Taiwanese universities would be able to work in Taiwan without a work permit in the two years after they graduate, explainer materials provided by the council said. In addition, foreign nationals who graduated from one of the world’s top 200 universities within the past five years can also apply for a two-year open work permit. Previously, those graduates would have needed to apply for a work permit using point-based criteria or have a Taiwanese company
The Shilin District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday indicted two Taiwanese and issued a wanted notice for Pete Liu (劉作虎), founder of Shenzhen-based smartphone manufacturer OnePlus Technology Co (萬普拉斯科技), for allegedly contravening the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例) by poaching 70 engineers in Taiwan. Liu allegedly traveled to Taiwan at the end of 2014 and met with a Taiwanese man surnamed Lin (林) to discuss establishing a mobile software research and development (R&D) team in Taiwan, prosecutors said. Without approval from the government, Lin, following Liu’s instructions, recruited more than 70 software
Chinese spouse and influencer Guan Guan’s (關關) residency permit has been revoked for repeatedly posting pro-China videos that threaten national security, the National Immigration Agency confirmed today. Guan Guan has said many controversial statements in her videos posted to Douyin (抖音), including “the red flag will soon be painted all over Taiwan” and “Taiwan is an inseparable part of China,” and expressing hope for expedited reunification. The agency last year received multiple reports alleging that Guan Guan had advocated for armed reunification. After verifying the reports, the agency last month issued a notice requiring her to appear and explain her actions. Guan
RSS