The Taipei City Government should create more facilities to help boost the “rainbow economy,” the economic power driven by demand from the LGBT+ community, Taipei City Councilor Hsu Shu-hua (許淑華) said on Saturday.
Taiwan last year made headlines internationally for legalizing same-sex marriage, but the Taipei City Government has yet to realize the potential for increased tourism that the nation being the first in Asia to legalize same-sex marriage could bring, the Democratic Progressive Party member said.
Hsu said that her constituency, which includes Songshan (松山) and Xinyi (信義) districts, have many tourist attractions that could entice international visitors, so if the city government introduced same-sex elements to promote such areas, it would help attract more international visitors.
Photo: Ho Shih-chang, Taipei Times
The Taipei Public Works Department could paint the bridge near Rainbow Riverside Park (彩虹河濱公園) in Neihu District (內湖) in rainbow hues to create a unique landmark, Hsu said.
The Taipei Tourism Department should come up with a marketing plan within the month, Hsu said.
The Tourism Department said it had begun focusing on a same-sex theme last year, including designing a rainbow-colored logo, establishing rainbow-themed art in the Ximending (西門町) area and at the 228 Memorial Park.
It installed rainbow-colored lamplights and banners for this year’s Pride Parade, and is planning an art installation at the Taipei City Hall plaza by September.
The Public Works Department said the bridge near Rainbow Riverside Park was repainted in 2017 and its next repainting would be in seven to 10 years, but it would keep Hsu’s suggestions in mind when the time comes for the next paint job.
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck off the coast of Hualien County in eastern Taiwan at 7pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The epicenter of the temblor was at sea, about 69.9km south of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 30.9km, it said. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The earthquake’s intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Taitung County’s Changbin Township (長濱), where it measured 5 on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 4 in Hualien, Nantou, Chiayi, Yunlin, Changhua and Miaoli counties, as well as
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