Pokémon GO Safari Zone, the gaming event that took the world by storm, officially came to Tainan City between November 1 and 5, 2018. The five-day event attracted 560,000 people to the main event venue and over one million people to the Tainan City area. If we overlook the consumption differences between domestic and foreign visitors and conservatively estimate each person spent NTD 1,500, this means this wave of visitors brought in more than 1.5 billion worth of business opportunities. The Tourism Bureau of Tainan City Government collaborated with the Pokémon Company and successfully marketed the city through gaming tourism, a new city promoting method that has never been used in Tainan before. The Tourism Bureau will continue to work hard and brand Tainan as a popular international tourism destination.
The main event venue for Pokémon GO Safari Zone was located at Tainan Metropolitan Park and Chimei Museum plaza. Here players could catch the T.A.I.N.A.N. Z.O.N.E. Unown, which represents Tainan, and Relicanth, which was not available in Taiwan in the past. There were also Shiny Pokémon such as Pinsir and Swablu in different colors. Furthermore, Pikachu and Eevee would regularly appear to interact and play with the players. In addition to the main event venue, rare Pokémon could appear in 30 different tourist destinations all over Tainan City. PokéStops in the city offer different and rare eggs, encouraging the players to enjoy some sightseeing while capturing Pokémon around the city.
The gaming company assigned 20 employees to Tainan to assist in the event; and the organizer and Chimei Museum also deployed hundreds of employees to the sites daily. City Government agencies, including the police force, Environmental Protection Bureau, Public Health Bureau, and Bureau of Transportation; and telecom companies such as ChungHwa Telecom, Taiwan Mobile, FarEasTone, and Taiwan Star Telecom also sent people to help out. Nearly one hundred people were stationed onsite each day to make it a successful and enjoyable event for the players, and a total of 1,300 people were required at the five-day event to create a smooth and wonderful AR mobile game experience.
Tainan is able to welcome so many Trainers to the city mainly thanks The Pokémon Company for developing this game and encouraging the players to live a healthy lifestyle and enjoy some city sightseeing as they play the game. Tainan City Government is also grateful to all the players for carefully maintaining and protecting the event environment. During the five-day event, Chimei Museum and Tainan Metropolitan Park were always tidy and orderly. Players carefully avoided stepping on the lawns even when they were looking down at their screens trying to catch Pokémon.
More than 10% of the players who participated in this event were from overseas, most of them from Japan and Hong Kong. There were many players and visitors from Korea, Indonesia, Malaysia, and the US as well. Since this was the first visit to Tainan for many players, most people came and stayed for three to seven days. Visitors could catch Pokémon and enjoy Tainan's delicacies and art and historical scene during their stay. We randomly interviewed foreign players, and met people from Sweden and the Netherlands, proving that Pokémon is a world-wide sensation. There were even players from New Zealand, which piqued the curiosity of many local players: the special Pokémon Relicanth is actually a limited edition Pokémon previously only found in New Zealand, why did the players travel to Tainan to capture it? The Kiwi players smiled and replied that because this is a special event, and a good opportunity to visit Taiwan. Besides, they can find Taiwanese limited editions here that are not available in New Zealand! The international players increased Tainan's global visibility and exposed Tainan to more diverse interactions with foreign people and cultures.
Niantic Software Company expressed that they were happy to take part in this major event in Tainan. They also thanked Tainan City Government, the Tourism Bureau, Chimei Museum, and all the sponsors and supporting agencies for providing such a wonderful memory for the Trainers. They hoped that every Trainer had a wonderful time, and will keep on catching more Pokémons.
Tainan City Government remarked that after the gaming event ended, life in Tainan returned to normal. Residents could once again enjoy their easy, laidback lifestyle. The government thanked Tainan's citizens for their patience and understanding toward the crowds and traffic in the past few days. The event may have ended, but now millions of players around the world have a special piece of Tainan. In the future, whether there are events or not, Tainan will always welcome Pokémon Trainers!
An additional note: here's a little secret: Do you know why the special edition Pokémon this time is Relicanth? During the preparation period, Tainan City Government Tourism Bureau tirelessly promoted our outstanding seafood, and this is why the gaming company decided to create many "fish" themed special Pokémon. Did you notice that there were a lot of fish-type Pokémon (Qwilfish, Feebas, Luvdisc, Remoraid, Whiscash, Barboach, etc.) this time? Hope everyone enjoyed Tainan's unique Water Pokémon species!