The Kaohsiung Tourism Bureau has been working to promote the city to tourists from Hong Kong, the nation’s second-largest source of international visitors.
As of the end of July, Japan has this year been the biggest source of inbound visitors to Taiwan, with 683,000 arrivals, while Hong Kong was close behind with 676,000, the bureau said in a news release yesterday.
From January to June, accommodation providers in Kaohsiung received about 134,000 visitors from Hong Kong and Macau, a 59 percent increase over the same period last year, it said, indicating that the territories are one of the city’s largest sources of international tourists.
Photo: CNA
As part its efforts to attract tourists from Hong Kong, the bureau this year partnered with Lihpao Resort Fullon Hotel and EVA Airways to promote tours of Kaohsiung for members of the Hong Kong Tourism Association and members of the media, bureau Director Kao Min-lin (高閔琳) said.
The bureau also invited top executives from China Airlines’ Hong Kong office and several travel agencies to visit some of Kaohsiung’s popular scenic hot spots, including the Pier-2 Art Center and the Great Harbor Bridge (大港橋) in Yancheng District (鹽埕), she said.
The bureau also collaborated with the Tourism Administration’s overseas office in Hong Kong and Towa Tours Ltd to welcome hundreds of employees from Chubb Life Insurance Co on a four-day sightseeing trip to Kaohsiung from Friday last week to Monday, Kao said.
The bureau would continue to work with tourism businesses, including those in the aviation, travel and hotel sectors, to promote the city as a popular international tourist destination, it added.
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-wong effective from 5:30pm, while local governments canceled school and work for tomorrow. A land warning is expected to be issued tomorrow morning before it is expected to make landfall on Wednesday, the agency said. Taoyuan, and well as Yilan, Hualien and Penghu counties canceled work and school for tomorrow, as well as mountainous district of Taipei and New Taipei City. For updated information on closures, please visit the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration Web site. As of 5pm today, Fung-wong was about 490km south-southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan's southernmost point.
Tropical Storm Fung-Wong would likely strengthen into a typhoon later today as it continues moving westward across the Pacific before heading in Taiwan’s direction next week, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 8am, Fung-Wong was about 2,190km east-southeast of Cape Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, moving westward at 25kph and possibly accelerating to 31kph, CWA data showed. The tropical storm is currently over waters east of the Philippines and still far from Taiwan, CWA forecaster Tseng Chao-cheng (曾昭誠) said, adding that it could likely strengthen into a typhoon later in the day. It is forecast to reach the South China Sea
Almost a quarter of volunteer soldiers who signed up from 2021 to last year have sought early discharge, the Legislative Yuan’s Budget Center said in a report. The report said that 12,884 of 52,674 people who volunteered in the period had sought an early exit from the military, returning NT$895.96 million (US$28.86 million) to the government. In 2021, there was a 105.34 percent rise in the volunteer recruitment rate, but the number has steadily declined since then, missing recruitment targets, the Chinese-language United Daily News said, citing the report. In 2021, only 521 volunteers dropped out of the military, the report said, citing
Nearly 5 million people have signed up to receive the government’s NT$10,000 (US$322) universal cash handout since registration opened on Wednesday last week, with deposits expected to begin tomorrow, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. After a staggered sign-up last week — based on the final digit of the applicant’s national ID or Alien Resident Certificate number — online registration is open to all eligible Taiwanese nationals, foreign permanent residents and spouses of Taiwanese nationals. Banks are expected to start issuing deposits from 6pm today, the ministry said. Those who completed registration by yesterday are expected to receive their NT$10,000 tomorrow, National Treasury