The Taiwan Lantern Festival was named Friday as one of the events with the most spectacular night views in the world, during an international summit held in Nagasaki, Japan.

The World Night View Summit is an international conference organized by the Yakei Convention and Visitors Bureau that brings together representatives from various countries for discussions aimed at stimulating domestic and international night-viewing tourism.

According to the organizer, this year’s event welcomed some 150 participants from across Japan, Monaco, China, Turkey, Portugal, Spain, Taiwan, Australia, Thailand, the Philippines and Hungary.

For the first time, the organizer also established a certification called the “World Night View Heritage” to recognize beautiful heritage sites, places or events with spectacular night views.

The Taiwan Lantern Festival was among the certified recipients that also included Gellért Hill in Hungary and the historic city of Ayutthaya in Thailand.

During the summit, Taiwan Tourism Interchange Association consultant Chiang Ming-ching (???) said the annual Taiwanese event is typically held during the Lantern Festival, which falls on the 15th day of the first month on the Lunar calendar and features celebrations such as the lighting of firecrackers and the display of colorful lanterns.

Meanwhile, the biggest highlight during the one-day summit on Friday was the announcement of this year’s “New Three Cities with the Most Spectacular Night Views in the World” after an interim vote cast by the bureau’s members, with the first place going to Monaco, followed by Nagasaki and Shanghai.

The last edition of the World Night View Summit was held in 2012, with the three top winning cities being Nagasaki, Monaco and Hong Kong.

Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel