The 'Fahrenheit' heats up tourism

The Tourism Bureau has selected winners from travelers who have contributed pictures and articles marking the touching events and feelings during their journeys around Taiwan in the “100 Taiwan” series of activities.

Fahrenheit, a popular boy band in Taiwan, has continued to draw huge numbers of fans from Japan, South Korea and other Asian regions including Hong Kong and Malaysia for a large-scale “Time for Taiwan” contest for Taiwanese snacks and DIY (do-it-yourself) delicacies prepared by participants themselves.

The solicitation of contributions for the “100 Taiwan” events was concluded recently after participants contributed 542 articles recording their heart-felt feelings and trips throughout the island.In addition, a total of 839 amazing and memorable pictures will forwarded to the organizers via the Internet in the past four months.

A participant, surnamed Lee, from Wanhua District of Taipei won the top prize in the article division after submitting his feelings and photos about the 2011 Fulong International Sand Sculpture Arts Festival.He was awarded with the prize of free boarding at selected tourism facilities in coming year.

Winners in the photo division included those who offered breathtaking sceneries about the everyday sunset at the Kaomei wetland in Taiwan's central-western shoreline and the East Rift Valley on the eastern coast of the island.Janice Seh-jen Lai, director-general of the Tourism Bureau under the Ministry of Transportation and Communications, thanked the active participation in the “100 Taiwan” programs.

She said her bureau will make better use of the valuable materials and information provided by the participants to provide 10 major themes of tourism journeys covering the fields of indigenous communities, local cultures, contemporary culture, folklore religions, ecology, astronomy, biking, hiking, spa, and tourism creativity on the Internet as a reference for all people interested in traveling in Taiwan.In addition, the Fahrenheit band of singers has been retained by the bureau as spokespersons for Taiwan tourism for the third year in a row.

More than 1,000 of their fans from Taiwan and neighboring nations took part in a large-scale event on Dec. 4 offering delicacies from three selected night markets in Taiwan, including the Ningxia market in Taipei, Luodong in Yilan County, and Fengshan from southern Kaohsiung City.The fans personally prepared the famous and popular Taiwanese delicacies in a DIY practice to gain rare personal experiences in the preparation and cooking of the snacks.

Tourism Bureau officials said they are preparing to enlarge the event by inviting all famous night markets in Taiwan to join a contest of Taiwanese delicacies in 2012.They also welcomed tourists from all around the world and hoped they wouldn't miss the major event prepared for them next year. Various incentive programs will be worked out for the visitors.

Source - chinapost.com.tw