Blackpink’s concerts helped Kaohsiung generate more than NT$300 million (US$9.8 million) in tourism revenue, the city government said yesterday.
While more than 120,000 people came to see the K-pop girl group at the Kaohsiung National Stadium over two days, Blackpink’s fans also spent money around the southern port city in its tourist industry, the Kaohsiung Economic Development Bureau said.
For example, many vendors in night markets such as Liuhe and Ruifeng saw sales jump by at least 30 percent, the bureau said in a news release.
Photo courtesy of Live Nation Taiwan
Kaohsiung was the first Asian stop of Blankpink’s "Deadline" world tour.
However, with some Blackpink fans unable to procure tickets to the two shows, some resorted to tailgating outside the stadium during the concerts.
The city’s Transportation Bureau said that, including ticketholders and tailgaters, as many as 63,000 people were present within and around the stadium on Saturday, while as many as 59,000 were at the location on Sunday, indicating that at least 120,000 attended the shows over two days.
Photo: CNA
Kaohsiung Rapid Transit Corp (KRTC) also reported that the city’s metro system carried a total of 323,601 passengers on Saturday and 281,511 on Sunday.
Saturday was the busiest day on the metro so far this year in terms of passengers, the KRTC added.
Blackpink had already left their mark on the city before with their "Born Pink" concerts in Kaohsiung in 2023, when the city’s metro ridership record of about 250,000 passengers was also broken.
The Kaohsiung leg of Blackpink’s Deadline tour also made the girl group the first South Korean artists to hold the most number of shows at the Kaohsiung National Stadium.
Blackpink also set a record of having more than 100,000 audience members in each of the two two-day concerts, selling more than 190,000 tickets when counting the 2023 and this year's tour legs together.
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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
A magnitude 5.3 earthquake struck Kaohsiung at 1pm today, the Central Weather Administration said. The epicenter was in Jiasian District (甲仙), 72.1km north-northeast of Kaohsiung City Hall, at a depth of 7.8km, agency data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effects of a temblor, was highest in Kaohsiung and Tainan, where it measured a 4 on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale. It also measured a 3 in parts of Chiayi City, as well as Pingtung, Yunlin and Hualien counties, data showed.
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
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