A comics fan displays his purchase at the Taipei International Comics and Animation Festival's opening day Thursday. CNA photo Feb. 1, 2024
Taipei, Feb. 1 (CNA) The 12th Taipei International Comics and Animation Festival opened Thursday to long lines of people, some of whom had been queuing since the night before.
A university student surnamed Chang (張), who had traveled with his friends from Taichung for the fair, told CNA that when they arrived at the venue in Taipei around 9 p.m. Wednesday, people had already begun to line up at some of the entrances.
By the time doors opened at 10 a.m. Thursday, the lines had stretched 100-200 meters outside the 10 entrances at the Taipei World Trade Center venue. The large number of comics fans then rushed through the doors, hoping to buy some of the lucky bags being rolled out at several booths.
Pre-sale tickets for the comics fair had topped 10,000, and the five-day event was expected to generate total revenues of over NT$200 million (US$6.38 million), Chen Chun-an (陳俊安), commissioner of the Taipei City Government's Department of Economic Development, said at the opening ceremony.
Kao Shih-chuang (高世樁), secretary-general of the Chinese Animation and Comic Publishers Association, told CNA that an estimated 470,000 people are likely to attend the fair over the five-day period.
This year, the number of booths has increased to a record 800 at the fair, 35 percent more than last year, according to Su Wei-chuan (蘇偉銓), head of the Taipei-based Chinese Animation and Comic Publishers Association, which organizes the annual event.
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