South Taiwan city to launch hot air balloon rides in October

台灣南部城市10月推出熱氣球之旅

Kaohsiung transforming Tianliao District into global tourist destination with hot air ballon rides

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Kaohsiung is planning to launch hot air balloon rides in October at the earliest after successfully conducting hot air balloon test flights on Tuesday (Sept. 14), Kaohsiung Tourism Bureau Director Chou Ling-wen (周玲妏) said Wednesday.

The southern city is aiming to develop its Tianliao area, which has recently been designated as the nation’s ninth mudstone badland geopark, into a new international tourist destination featuring hot air balloon rides, CNA reported. The initiative was inspired by the popular hot air balloons in Turkey’s Cappadocia region, which is well-known for its beautiful landscape, according to CNA,

The Kaohsiung Tourism Bureau said that tethered, colorful hot air balloons successfully took off in Tianliao on Tuesday, allowing passengers to see the different features of the mudstone badlands from up above, per CNA.

To prepare for this year’s Double Ten Day celebrations and next year’s Lantern Festival, the bureau also successfully conducted tethered hot air balloon flights near the Love River in downtown Kaohsiung on Wednesday morning. Many passers-by snapped photos of the beautiful scene.

The bureau said it expected hot air balloon rides in Tianliao to officially begin in October, according to CNA.