Taiwan Lantern Festival draws 20 million visitors over 12 days

Taoyuan, Feb. 24 (CNA) The 2025 Taiwan Lantern Festival came to a close in Taoyuan on Sunday, recording over 20 million visitors in the 12 days since it opened on Feb. 12.

Speaking at the closing ceremony Sunday evening, Taoyuan Mayor Chang San-cheng (張善政) said a total of 15 million visitors attended the light shows at the two Main Lantern Exhibition Areas -- at Taoyuan Sports Park Station and Taoyuan High Speed Rail Station on the Taoyuan Airport Metro line.

Additionally, over 5.3 million people visited the city's 13 municipal districts to see the various lantern displays, which were part of the festival's "Echoes of Radiance" show, Chang said.

In total, over 20 million visitors attended the multiple shows in the city over the 12 day period of the annual Lantern Festival, he said.

According to the Taoyuan City government, 220,000 of those visitors also participated in the many guided tours at the show.

The city government said 2,500 volunteers from all over the world served as the backbone of the festival, assisting international visitors to the event.

The 2025 Lantern Festival generated over NT$27 billion (US$824 million) in revenue for the city, according to Chang.

He said it was a family friendly event, thanks a number of popular international intellectual property franchises in the entertainment field that decided to feature their characters at the show.

Some of the most popular characters among the children who visited included Snorlax from the Japanese animation Pokémon, and Colossal Titan from Attack on Titan, Chang said.

For the first time, the Lantern Festival partnered with international tech conglomerate Google to incorporate Google Maps into its foot traffic information and thus avoid congestion, Chang said.

Meanwhile, to facilitate travel to and from the event, Taiwan High Speed Rail, Taoyuan Metro, Taiwan Railway and public bus operators mobilized over 2,830 workers to provide assistance during the festival, the city government said.

Over the 12-day period of the festival, some 780,000 passengers passed through Taoyuan HSR Station, according to the managing company.

On Sunday, Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp. said in a press release that it had provided 104 train services over the 12 days to cater to Lantern Festival visitors.

Also on Sunday, Chang presented a yellow lantern to Chiayi County Deputy Commissioner Liu Pei-tung (劉培東) in a ceremonial passing of the lantern to next year's host city Chiayi.

In accepting the lantern, Liu said he was confident that Chiayi would maintain the popularity of the festival and continue to display its metamorphosis, development and progress to visitors.