The 12th Taipei International Comics and Animation Festival opened yesterday to long lines of people, some of whom had been lining up since the night before.
A university student surnamed Chang (張), who had traveled with his friends from Taichung for the fair, told reporters that when they arrived at the venue in Taipei about 9pm on Wednesday, people had already began to line up at some of the entrances.
By the time doors opened at 10am yesterday, the lines had stretched from between 100m to 200m outside the 10 entrances of the Taipei World Trade Center venue.
Photo: CNA
The large number of comic fans then rushed through the doors, hoping to snap up some of the lucky bags being handed out at several booths.
Presale tickets for the comics fair had topped 10,000, and the five-day event was expected to generate more than NT$200 million (US$6.38 million) in revenue, Taipei Department of Economic Development Director Chen Chun-an (陳俊安) said at the opening ceremony.
Chinese Animation and Comic Publishers Association secretary-general Kao Shih-chuang (高世樁) said that an estimated 470,000 people are likely to attend the fair over the five-day period.
Photo: CNA
This year, the number of booths has increased to a record 800, 35 percent more than last year, said Su Wei-chuan (蘇偉銓), head of the Taipei-based association that organizes the annual event.
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