With the Lunar New Year holidays around the corner, Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) yesterday invited visitors to try six travel routes in the city.
They comprise day tours to Yangmingshan and Beitou for flowers and hot springs; to Ximending for film and pop cultural scenes; to Xinyi District (信義) for shopping; to Maokong for a gondola ride and tea tasting; to the Confucius Temple and the Taipei International Flora Expo in Datung District (大同), and to the Lantern Festival that will begin on Feb. 11.
The number of visitors to Taipei during the holidays is expected to increase 15 percent. Hau said unlike previous years when Taipei residents returned to their hometowns during the holiday, turning the city into a ghost town, visitor numbers are expected to rise from 400,000 to 600,000 because of the shorter vacation.
“We encourage residents and visitors alike to stay in Taipei this year, try our recommended tours and have fun in the city during the holidays,” Hau said during a visit to Taipei Confucius Temple.
Department of Information and Tourism Commissioner Chao Hsin-ping (趙心屏) said the occupancy rate for the city’s hotels was expected to reach 85 percent during the holidays.
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Actress Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛) has “returned home” to Taiwan, and there are no plans to hold a funeral for the TV star who died in Japan from influenza- induced pneumonia, her family said in a statement Wednesday night. The statement was released after local media outlets reported that Barbie Hsu’s ashes were brought back Taiwan on board a private jet, which arrived at Taipei Songshan Airport around 3 p.m. on Wednesday. To the reporters waiting at the airport, the statement issued by the family read “(we) appreciate friends working in the media for waiting in the cold weather.” “She has safely returned home.
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