TAIPEI, 3 August 2018: Southern Taiwan’s Kaohsiung City has opened its newest tourist attraction last week; a restored wharf adjacent to the former British consulate.
Located in the city’s Takow district it is part of local government efforts to revitalise historical sites and boost tourism with new sightseeing options.
Taiwan is popular with tourists from Southeast Asia due to the visa-free promotion and the keen interest in food related travel.
It is also attracting adventure-based tourism and is emerging as one of the region’s top cycle tour destinations with an interesting race calendar focusing on single day even in its east coast mountain ranges.
Restoration work on the wharf included demolishing a harbour inspection office to ensure visitors have an unbroken view of the old British consulate from the wharf, according to the Kaohsiung City Government’s Bureau of Cultural Affairs.
The work of the bureau’s Hamasen Restoration Project on this site focused on renovating a historic route connecting the wharf, the adjacent consulate, and a walking trail that leads up a hill to the former British consular residence. A new visitors centre in the shape of a K, representing Kaohsiung, has also been built at the side of the wharf.
Kaohsiung Deputy Mayor Shih Che told Taiwan Today that the “project underscores the local government’s determination to maintain strong links between the city’s urban development and its maritime history. The wharf played a key role in shaping Kaohsiung into one of the nation’s foremost trading hubs.”
Launched in 2016, the Hamasen Restoration Project is part of the Ministry of Culture’s Reconstruction of Historical Scenes initiative funded by the government’s Forward-looking Infrastructure Development Programme. The NTD420 billion (USD13.7 billion) FIDP, running through August 2021, aims to meet Taiwan’s infrastructure needs for the next 30 years.
(Source: Taiwan Today)
