Video production company Nas Daily’s Nuseir Yassin and Alyne Tamir are among the first 10 groups of visitors to spend a night at the Presidential Office Building in Taipei from Oct. 8, the organizers of a tourism promotion program announced yesterday.
The pair reside in Singapore, where they have previously partnered with Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) to promote the city-state.
Yassin, a Palestinian-Israeli video creator and Harvard graduate, in 2016 founded Nas Daily, which has amassed more than 13 million followers on Facebook.
Photo: CNA
French photographer Victor Habchy and food writer Ali Lair are also to be among the guests.
The two have expressed an interest in experiencing Asian cuisine and hope to bike around Taiwan, organizers said.
The “Spend a Night at Taiwan’s Presidential Office Building” program — co-organized by the Presidential Office, the General Association of Chinese Culture, the Tourism Bureau and other organizations — received 167 entries from applicants who have never been to Taiwan, as well as those who have studied or worked here and hoped to return, association deputy secretary-general Lee Hou-ching (李厚慶) said.
The applicants’ proposals showed that Taiwan’s friendliness, passion and safety are what make it special, and that the nation’s interactions with the world are priceless, he said.
The entries were judged by social commentator Chan Wei-hsiung (詹偉雄); travel writer Ugur Rifat Karlova, better known as Wu Feng (吳鳳); and travel blogger Alston Hsu (許傑), along with representatives from the Presidential Office, the bureau and the Taiwan Visitors Association, organizers said.
The 10 groups were selected for their social media influence, the creativity of their self-introduction videos and their proposals for promoting Taiwan, they said.
From Oct. 8 through December, the Presidential Office Building is to host one group per week, they added.
Visitors are to stay in a 14 ping (46.3m2) room in the compound’s Lixing Building (力行樓), which used to house volunteers, Presidential Office spokesman Xavier Chang (張惇涵) said.
The space is undergoing final renovations and would be revealed to the public soon, he said, adding that, like a regular hotel room, it would include complimentary Wi-Fi and breakfast.
Guests would be required to follow the Presidential Office Building’s security guidelines and would not be allowed to enter or exit the premises from 10pm to 5am, Chang said.
A personal “housekeeper” is to pick up guests from the airport, he said, adding that in the morning, they would have an opportunity to attend a flag-raising ceremony.
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