Visitors flock to Kaohsiung on last day of rubber duck art installation

Visitors flock to Kaohsiung on last day of rubber duck art installation

2024-02-25

An art installation comprising two giant rubber ducks created by a Dutch artist have been a boon for tourism in Kaohsiung. Sunday was the last day that the ducks were on display in the city, and many tourists came early in the morning to catch a last glimpse them. The charming exhibit has boosted the occupancy rate of Kaohsiung’s hotels, and created many business opportunities for the city.

Tourist
I came down from Taichung. I freed up some time and seized the chance to come down. Now that the Lunar New Year is over, there are fewer people here.

Tourist
I think the last time it was in Keelung. That was 10 years ago. Also, there are two of them this time. So, I thought, I should go check it out.

Liu Chia-chen
Hotel marketing and public relations
We have the yellow ducks in Kaohsiung this year, and the hotel occupancy rate in the city stayed very high from the beginning of the winter vacation to the Lunar New Year, and even into the Lantern Festival. For example, the occupancy rate this week is about 90%. Compared with the same period last year, that’s an increase of more than 10%.

Kao Min-lin
Kaohsiung Tourism Bureau
We estimate it generated NT$14 billion in tourism revenue for the city. Other than the surge in visitors and earnings, we hope the installation has left people with a different impression of Kaohsiung’s transformation and progress. I also hope that the ducks will make a return to Kaohsiung in another 10 years.

On the installation’s last day, the Kaohsiung City Government held a farewell party to send off the visiting ducks, which departed from Love River Bay at 5 p.m. Visitors watched the ducks float away with fans waving goodbye from the harbor’s shores.

For more Taiwan news, tune in:
Sun to Fri at 9:30 pm on Channel 152
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高雄黃色小鴨週日謝幕! 遊客把握最後機會湧展區

2024-02-25

黃色小鴨旋風，成功行銷高雄市觀光，今天是展期最後一天，一大早就湧入了不少遊客，把握最後機會來高雄賞鴨，小鴨魅力同時也帶動了飯店業住房率，為高雄創造百億商機。

[[現場遊客]]
“從台中，抓時間然後趕快有空就過來，過年後人比較少”

[[現場遊客]]
“上次在基隆好像十年前吧，而且剛好現在來了兩隻，就想說來看一下好了”

[[飯店行銷公關部經理劉佳貞]]
“今年高雄剛好有黃色小鴨，讓高雄市的住房率，一路從寒假開始就夯到過年，甚至到元宵，像是這一週的住房率大概到九成多，相較去年同期的話，其實飯店的住房都成長了一成以上”

[[高雄市觀光局長高閔琳]]
“預估超過140億的觀光產值，我們也希望這次的活動，除了帶動人潮錢潮之外，最重要的是讓大家對高雄城市的轉型跟進步，有不一樣的記憶。我想也可以許願十年後，小鴨再次回到高雄跟大家見面”

最後一天，高雄市府盛大舉辦歡送趴，高規格歡送小鴨。下午5點起航離開愛河灣，漫遊至高雄港旅運中心旁18號碼頭，向沿途民眾說再見。25號晚上將不再夜間展示。

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A long line has formed in Taipei’s Ximending early in the morning on a weekend. These people, it turns out, are foreign tourists waiting to get their pictures taken on Taipei’s rainbow crosswalk.

Tourist from Thailand
Because it is close to Thailand. It is, I have to say, not expensive.

Taiwan’s great variety of food, as well as its popular tourist destinations like Jiufen Old Street and the National Palace Museum, have caught the attention of foreigners. According to the Tourism Administration, last year, Hong Kong and Macao ranked first with over 1.19 million people visiting Taiwan from the two territories. Japan ranked second with 928,000 visitors, and South Korea came in third at 744,000 visitors. Meanwhile, more than 400,000 visitors each from Malaysia and Singapore came to Taiwan for sightseeing.

Tourists from Hong Kong
We go Shopping. There’re lots of good gifts. We were just here in August. We’ve come two or three times, once every year.

The latest figures are quite different from those of 2019. Before the pandemic, Japanese tourists ranked the highest at 2.16 million. Last year, however, there were just 928,000 visitors from Japan. Experts say the depreciation of the yen had a lot to do with the drop.

Huang Cheng-tsung
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The depreciation of the yen has led to higher costs for Japanese when they go abroad. Also, Hong Kong is closer to Taiwan. Another thing is, many Hong Kong tourists had come to Taiwan to study in the past, so they already have a close connection with Taiwan.

Another reason for the rise of tourists from Hong Kong, Macao, and Southeast Asia is government policy. Until the end of July this year, travelers from the Philippines, Thailand, and Brunei can visit Taiwan without a visa. Moreover, up till the end of June 2025, foreign passport holders who travel independently can enter a lottery to obtain NT$5,000-worth of vouchers if they register within seven days before arrival. Tour groups made up of four or more people can also apply for NT$5,000- to NT$50,000-worth of vouchers. All this is so that the government can reach the goal of 12 million international tourists coming to Taiwan in 2024.

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German immigrant and her husband run printmaking studio in Taichung

A German immigrant and her husband are running a printmaking studio in Taichung. Katharina Eckert and Tung Yu-hao met as art students in Germany. The printmakers now run a studio where they exhibit their work and offer a wealth of art classes for the local community. They’re also involved in community design projects, bringing beauty to the streets of Yunlin. FTV took a tour around their studio to learn about the creative process.

Each print hanging here has a story behind it. They are based on stories collected by Katharina Eckert and her husband during their art studies in Germany. But the works are brand-new paper intaglio prints.

Katharina Eckert
Artist and German immigrant
For example, this one comes from something one grandpa told me. When he was a child, they had nothing, and just once a week his mother would make a cake, because their friends would come over to make music. He’s peeking through the keyhole to see if there’s any cake left.

The couple based the series of works on 12 themes. For three weeks, they exhibited the prints, made using a paper intaglio technique not found in Germany, in the city of Darmstadt.

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A local Darmstadt gallery owner came specially to see our work at the opening of the exhibition. Because he hadn’t heard of the paper intaglio technique and was curious about it.

The novel Taiwanese printmaking technique opened a new avenue for exchange with Germany. It was an unforgettable artistic exchange for the young couple.

The pair are both printmakers, and are involved in community design projects. These “Wukelu Bamboo Shoots” installations in Dounan Township, Yunlin, is one of their works.

Katharina Eckert
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We were at my home, and I was firing it with a blowtorch. When you spray a kind of acid on it, it gradually forms this blue-green color. It’s all deliberate, all in the plan.

Eckert and Tung were peers in a postgraduate class. They moved to his hometown Taichung after graduation to set up this printmaking workshop. They want to make their prints relevant to daily life, and offer drawing classes and “Give It a Try!” pottery classes.

Eckert says that creating art is healing – but also addictive. She will keep on finding new avenues for collaboration, to gain visibility for her work, and offering experience classes for the community. Art can feel like a rarefied world, but she wants to fling open the door.

This story was provided by the program "We Are Family"
Funded by New Immigrant Development Fund

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F.C. Vikings move up to Premier League

Today we take you to meet Ertugrul Bastug, a Turkish player who plays for a soccer club in Taipei called the F.C. Vikings. Bastug had played soccer in Turkey, but due to a knee injury, he took a few years off to travel around Asia. He came to Taiwan in 2020, fell in love with the country and started playing for the F.C. Vikings. The team recently won first place in Division 2 and moved up to the Premier League. FTV reporter Stephany Yang has the story.

He warms up with his coach, discussing different tactics. This is Ertugrul Bastug from Turkey. He is a player for F.C. Vikings. The team recently placed first in Division 2 and moved up to the Premier League.

Ertugrul Bastug
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I started to play football when I was a kid. 7 or 8 years old in Turkey. In a very good academy in Istanbul, in a good team. Why I come to Taiwan? The first is that it is a beautiful country and beautiful people. I like the Tawiaense food and right now I have a good team – the Vikings. I am very excited to play with them. Last season, we won the championship for the Vikings. I am super happy.

Bastug grew up in Turkey, where he started soccer training at a young age. Due to a knee injury when he was 19, he took a break and traveled around the world. He moved to Taiwan in 2020 after visiting over 20 countries. He decided to stay in Taiwan and continue his dream of playing football.

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I got the injury when I was 19. My knees broke. After I stopped playing for one to two years. Then after, I traveled to Asia. Football is my dream. I want to try it again and again. Right now, my physio is good. This year I want to show my best for Vikings. I traveled more than 28 or 30 or something. Around including Asia, Central Asia, the Balkans, Europe, and the Middle East. I travelled aroud. After that, I came to Taiwan. I met Vikings and I started playing football again.

Johnni Nielsen from Denmark and his wife, Hope Tsai, founded F.C. Vikings in 2010 to make football more accessible. Over the 13 years, they have provided free football training for elementary school students up to adults. Last year, the team invited Oliver Harley to serve as the head coach. Harley is from Jamaica and has lived in Taiwan for 20 years coaching soccer. Under his leadership, the team won first place in Division 2.

Oliver Lazarus Harley
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My coaching philosophy? Football has been my life since I was a child. I don’t really separate football from life. My coaches always told me that football is life and everything that happens on the football field happens in your life. I try to let my players know that all the principles and characters that they in life should be demonstrated on the football field and vice versa. They need to be honest people, upstanding people, and help others, which is part of football as well, you work as a team.

The team’s goal is to stay in the Premier League and to one day represent Taiwan in the AFC tournament.

Johnni Nielsen
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It is exciting for us to move up to the Premier League after just one year in the second division. This is something we have been working for for the last 13 years. When we started 13 years ago, many of the kids that started with me at that time they are now going to play in the premier league so it is a big thing for us. The goal is for us to stay in the Premier League this season and hopefully, we can do good and keep on staying there. One day, maybe we can represent Taiwan in the AFC tournament.

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It has kind of been my goal since I started working with football here is to get to the top league and carry a team up. We made a team out of players from other teams, some that were Vikings, young boys, older players. A mix match of Vikings and put them together. We won the league. I am very happy about that. I am very with the players and for the club.

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In the last 13 years, what I see is that football is growing slowly but steadily. Us being part of that is something that I am very proud of. It is something that I tell people, not in Taiwan but at home about. That is also why we have a strong connection with Denmark for example and also the other countries where my coaching staff is from. We are lucky that we got the Taipei Stadium as our home pitch right next to Taipei Arena. We want to more what I talked about before. Our football culture. Where I am from and where the coaching staff is from. We’re going to invite different vendors to come and sell food. We need to work more together. The youth departments have to be better and the sponsorships have to be better as well. This is what it takes to have more interest for football in Taiwan because the more we can put Taiwanese football on focus in the world, I think the better it is for Taiwan in general.

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The farm looks like a series of small aquarium tanks, but they can grow many different types of lettuce. Special modes apply to different varieties of the plant. You can even try the system at home. Perhaps before long you won’t even need to press a button to control it, but you’ll just run the farm on voice control. With AI, anything seems possible.

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