2022 Taiwan Lantern Festival returns to Kaohsiung, bigger and more economical

The national landmark celebration "Taiwan Lantern Festival" returns to Kaohsiung after 20 years, "2022 Taiwan Lantern Festival in Kaohsiung" debuts dual main venues at Love River Bay and Weiwuying, with a site area of nearly 100 hectares, twice the size of recent years' lantern zones; at the same time, it arranges the most innovative land, sea and air curation and the smartest performance technology, and is expected to generate economic benefits of up to 20 billion yuan and 12 million visits. The Kaohsiung City government will allocate 460 million yuan itself, and on the 4th the municipal meeting passed the advance payment proposal, which will be sent to the city council for review. Under the premise of a long lantern period, dual venues and a large area, this expenditure is relatively more economical.

The Kaohsiung City government explained that in the past 3 years the scale of the Taiwan Lantern Festival activities (including central subsidies and local budgets) has been about 700 to 900 million yuan, and local self-raised funds have averaged 457 million to 526 million yuan. The total scale of the 2022 Taiwan Lantern Festival is about 720 million yuan, and the city government estimates it will allocate 460 million yuan itself. Because the preparation time is more urgent than in previous years, the budget could not be compiled in advance, so it will be implemented by way of advance payment, mainly for lantern zone exhibition setup, power configuration and facility site preparation, lantern festival performances and repertory theater, transportation shuttle and related facility preparation, etc., to hold this national event well in a relatively economical way.

The city government stated that holding large-scale events will drive the growth of local economic benefits. The cross-century light year series of activities held at the end of last year and the beginning of this year brought considerable benefits to Kaohsiung in terms of viewership, broadcasting, crowds, sales and traffic volume, while the 2022 Taiwan Lantern Festival has a longer lantern period and also features a large area and low cost, and is expected to create 20 billion yuan in economic benefits and 12 million visits.

The 2022 Taiwan Lantern Festival will hold the lantern handover ceremony this Saturday (5/8) at Weiwuying. Minister of Transportation and Communications Wang Kuo-tsai will attend to witness it. Director-General of the Tourism Bureau of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications Chang Shi-chung and Hsinchu Mayor Lin Chih-chien will hand over the Taiwan Lantern Festival lantern token representing the right to host the Taiwan Lantern Festival to Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chi-mai, grandly welcoming the glorious moment of the 2022 Taiwan Lantern Festival's return to Kaohsiung.