Taipei Lantern Festival signifies it returning to pre-covid19 normalcy

2023 Taiwan Lantern Festival "Light Up the Future" - Illumination of tall buildings and city alleyways creates the brightest and most beautiful city on Earth.

The Taiwan Lantern Festival was first created by the Tourism Bureau of the

Ministry of Transportation and Communications in 1990. 

After innovation and integration of new technology, it has become the most important festival event of the Lunar New Year on the 15th day of the first lunar month in Taiwan. 

It is also the largest and most attended celebration event in Taiwan and has been recommended and praised by international media such as CNN and the Discovery Channel and is one of the "World Night View Heritage" events. 

Taipei City was the starting point of the Taiwan Lantern Festival. 

Over the 10 years since 1990, the Taiwan Lantern Festival held every year during the Lunar New Year's Festival has become a symbol of pride and glory for the city where it is held and its citizens. 

This year, the Taiwan Lantern Festival will be held for the first time in Taipei's metropolitan area as an "urban lantern festival." 

Works will be displayed interspersed among tall buildings and the city's alleyways. The festival will follow along the MRT lines and will also connect local commercial districts.

and integrate local industries. 

It will include important urban areas such as the Songshan Cultural and Creative Park, National Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, Taipei 101, with four main exhibition areas and twelve administrative lantern display areas planned to showcase the lantern decorations. 

This will bring the Taiwan Lantern Festival and Taipei City to life in a brilliant fusion.

This year's lantern festival features four main exhibition areas, including the

Beacons of Light Display Zone, Fount of Light Display Zone, Lights of the Future Display Zone, and Central Display Zone. 

There will be more than 300 exhibits and 12 administrative lantern areas, with an exhibition area of 168 hectares, making it the largest lantern festival in recent years. 

The highly anticipated Central Display Zone includes one main lantern, three secondary

lanterns, and six large lantern areas. 

This year's festival features a robot-shaped main lantern for the first time, which is inspired by Taiwan's global leading semiconductor industry. 

The three secondary lamps pay tribute to the dragon lantern image of the Taiwan lantern festival in the new millennium, expressing gratitude toward Taiwan's hardworking medical staff during the pandemic. 

The secondary lanterns showcase a technological style that is different from the traditional lantern form, reflecting the spirit of the Taiwan lantern festival moving from classic to innovative.

The International Friendship Lantern Area, which is highly anticipated by the public every year, invites 10 cities and enterprises from Japan this year to participate in the lantern festival.

By viewing lanterns from Hokkaido, Aomori Prefecture, Ibaraki Prefecture, Nagoya City, Kagawa Prefecture, Kochi Prefecture, Shimane Prefecture, Saga Prefecture, Kintetsu Group, and Tobu Railway, visitors can experience the Japanese railway and other Japanese attractions just by visiting the Taiwan lantern festival. 

Another highlight of the festival is the performance program, inviting domestic and

foreign performing teams. 

Four popular Japanese Yosakoi dance teams will perform on the opening day of the festival. 

This year's small paper lantern is based on the zodiac rabbit and inspired by the white rabbit in the children's book "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland". 

The colorful "Rainbow Rabbit" promises to be a popular lantern festival highlight among children and adults alike.

The world has become a global village and all of its countries are one community. COVID-19 is the best evidence for this, especially as it exposed the vulnerability of the tourism industry. 

Taiwan's tourism industry has increased its investment in resources and established a deep, diverse and high-quality tourism environment. 

Starting in 2023, the focus will be on expanding into international markets, working with the Central Epidemic Command Center to analyze and review global tourism promotion strategies, and launching market development initiatives to promote simultaneous promotions in various markets, invite visitors and offer incentives for international marketing strategies. 

At the same time, to accelerate recovery, the relevant departments and county and city governments will be integrated, and the tourism industry will be involved to promote the

"Accelerate the Arrival of International Tourists in Taiwan" plan. 

Based on the needs of international tourists (including tour groups and independent

travelers) in different markets and seasons, attractive marketing promotions

will be planned, and the tourism industry and other channels will be strongly.

promoted. 

The goal is to quickly achieve more than 50% of the pre-epidemic levels in 2023 (about 6 million people), and recover to 11.86 million visitors in 2024.