The 5th Taichung Shopping Festival concluded successfully. Today (9th), a press conference was held at Taichung City Hall on Taiwan Boulevard to announce the highlights of the event, including the drawing of the grand prize—a ten-million-dollar apartment. Mayor Lu Hsiu-yen, along with distinguished guests, revealed that the lucky winner of the apartment is Ms. Huang from Xitun. During the live announcement, Mayor Lu called Ms. Huang, who expressed her astonishment at winning an apartment by just spending some 20,000 NTD on a mobile phone and participating in the shopping festival and said that she can’t wait to share this exciting news with her mother and husband. Upon learning that Ms. Huang currently resides in a rented place, Mayor Lu commented that winning this grand prize would be perfect for her!

Mayor Lu emphasized that, despite excluding real estate and land consumption registrations, this year's event still achieved a total registered consumption amount of 32.8 billion NTD. Compared to the previous fourth edition, with a total of 35.8 billion NTD (including 7.7 billion NTD in real estate/land amounts), the difference is only 3 billion NTD. Taichung stands out among the eight cities and counties hosting shopping festivals as the only one surpassing the 30-billion mark, consistently ranking first nationwide each year. Mayor Lu attributed this success to the collective efforts of everyone involved for economic development. The city government allocated a budget of 3.5 billion NTD, stimulating consumption and generating over 600 billion NTD in output value.

During her remark, Mayor Lu humorously mentioned that there is a recent trend where people express a desire to receive a call from her. She also shared the purchases of the previous four winners of apartments, all of whom were women. These winners secured the grand prize for various purchases, such as participating in travel groups, buying furniture, or acquiring automobiles, adding a cheerful atmosphere to the press conference before the lottery draw.

In the lottery event, the distinguished guests took turns operating the draw machine to select number combinations. The lucky recipient of the apartments was randomly chosen from nearly 100 million lottery tickets. Mayor Lu energetically called the winner and asked all present to extend their congratulations to Ms. Huang. Ms. Huang shared that she actively participates in the Taichung Shopping Festival every year. This year, her cumulative spending reached 45,000 NTD with 253 receipts. She described the unexpected win of a ten-million-dollar apartment as truly magical.

Also, in the same event, an extra draw of the “Double Delight with the e-Taichung App” was conducted by the Digital Affairs Bureau, offering additional surprises, including 5 sets of luxury vacation vouchers for well-known hotels in Taichung. Additionally, the Environmental Protection Bureau added more prizes with 15 sets of furniture from Bao Zhi Lin. The atmosphere was heightened as guests were encouraged to join in singing the theme song of the Taichung Shopping Festival, incorporating dance moves to engage and celebrate with both the on-site and online audience. This served as a perfect conclusion to the shopping festival's final event.

Regarding the 12 notable achievements, the Economic Development Bureau noted that this year's event focused on boosting the grassroots and local economies in the ten districts, resulting in a remarkable accomplishment, with region-specific consumption reaching 1.41 billion NTD—a nearly 40% increase from the previous year's 1 billion NTD. Furthermore, receipt-specific consumption soared to 1.52 billion NTD, marking a threefold growth compared to the previous year's 500 million NTD. The average daily registered consumption amount also saw a consistent rise, increasing from 480 million NTD in the event's third edition two years ago to 520 million NTD in the current edition. Notably, the expenditure in Taichung by visitors from other cities and counties surpassed 10 billion NTD, with Changhua County, Nantou County, Yunlin County, New Taipei City, and Miaoli County exhibiting the highest consumption ratios in order. These concrete figures affirm the effectiveness of government policies in stimulating the grassroots and local economies.

The Economic Development Bureau reported that downloads for the e-Taichung and Shopping Festival app have exceeded 2.35 million, showing a growth of 500,000 downloads compared to the previous year. Notably, the app, prior to its integration, received two awards last year, including the top prize of the Public/Private Partnership Award at the WITSA ICT Excellence Award and the Digital Transformation Award at the ASOCIO ICT Award (known as the Asia Cup of the ICT Industry) after the 2nd-phase international review. These awards affirm the platform's influence, scalability, innovative features, and functionality, receiving international recognition.

According to the Economic Development Bureau, the 5th Taichung Shopping Festival awarded a total of prizes and rewards valued at over 250 million NTD. This encompassed 75,000 winners receiving 3,000 NTD, 96 receiving 100,000 NTD, 4 receiving one-million-dollar car, and 8 receiving a million NTD. Noteworthy in this edition were two innovative economic initiatives introduced by the city government, including the unprecedented three-phase distribution of 750,000 Double Value Vouchers and the promotion of local hotpot and barbecue establishments through the Taichung Hotpot and Barbecue Festival. Both marketing endeavors successfully revitalized the local economy, enjoying support from the public and local businesses alike. The excitement continued to escalate as the Taichung Shopping Festival kicked off.

Before the shopping festival kicked off, online discussions were already on a rapid rise, and its reputation consistently ranked first each year. According to the sentiment analysis using KEYSPO’s big data key engine, the online discussion for this edition reached 223,250 mentions. This signifies a 1.5-fold increase compared to the previous edition, which had 150,000 mentions. Moreover, when compared to shopping festival events in other cities during the same year, the mentions of Taichung’s festival event surpassed them by nearly double, reaffirming its position as the top-ranking nationwide event.

At today's event, the 12 major highlights of the Taichung Shopping Festival were presented by air balloons and banners with signs resembling shopping bags, symbolizing that the 2024 Taichung Shopping Festival will reach new heights. In attendance were Mayor Lu, city councilors Liu Shih-chou, Lai I-huang, Lin P'i-han, Director-General of the Economic Development Bureau Chang Feng-yuan, Director-General of the Civil Affairs Bureau Wu Shih-wei, Director-General of the Sports Bureau Li Yu-jui, Director-General of the Tourism and Travel Bureau Chen Mei-hsiu, Director-General of the Education Bureau Chiang Wei-min, Director-General of the Social Affairs Bureau Liao Ching-chih, Director-General of the Agriculture Bureau Chang Ching-chang, Director-General of the Finance Bureau Yu Li-ling, Director-General of the Land Administration Bureau Wu Tsun-chin, Director-General of the Legal Affairs Bureau Li Shan-chih, Director-General of the Digital Affairs Bureau Lin Ku-lung, Director-General of the Secretariat Hsieh Chia-tsen, Chief of Staff of Taichung City Industrial and Development and Investment Promotion Committee Huang Yu-shan, Chairperson of Taichung Mass Rapid Transit Corporation Yen Pang-chieh, Deputy Chairperson of Research Development and Evaluation Commission Hung Chih-hung, Chairperson of Taichung City Bakery Association Tsai Wan-tsai, Chairperson of Taichung City Gift Association Wang Hsiao-wei, Chairperson of Taichung Entrepreneurship Association Tien Wen-chin, as well as representatives from various industries, business districts, and local leaders. City councilors Huang Hsin-hui Chen Wen-cheng, and Chiang Ho-shu also sent staff to participate in the event.