Giant gashapon machines are all the rage now — A look back at the “Top 10 Hottest Travel & Food Trends of 2017”

▲ The 2017 Tamsui Egg Egg Carnival also featured a giant gashapon machine. (Photo / NetizenGreat AttractionsProvided. Please do not reproduce without permission to avoid copyright infringement.)

By Reporter Peng Huaiyu / Special Report

It’s the first day of 2018 — how would you sum up 2017?ETtoday Travel Cloud rounds up the hottest trends in travel and food for 2017. See how many you caught on to!

▲ Tainan’s super-sized gashapon machine Gacha box kicked off the trend for massive gashapon machines. (Photo / IG@chang__2015Provided. Please do not reproduce without permission to avoid copyright infringement.)

1. Giant Gashapon Machines
No. 1 goes without a doubt to the giant gashapon machine. Since dessert-themed gashapon machines came out, they truly exploded in popularity in July 2017 when “Taiwan’s largest gashapon machine” appeared in Tainan, drawing massive crowds. Then, Tamsui, Taichung, and Kaohsiung followed suit, offering one play for NT$100, thrilling and delighting gashapon fans.

▲ Sud Vista Suvarra Manor in Miaoli features Taiwan’s longest polished tile slide. (Photo / Provided by Sud Vista Suvarra Manor)

2. Super Long Slides
There are super long slides you can enjoy all around Taiwan. Taipei’s Shin Kong Mitsukoshi in Xinyi has a “16-meter-high spiral 3D slide,” Hsinchu’s Qingqing Grassland features a “61-meter polished tile slide,” Miaoli’s Suvarra Manor has a “75-meter-long forest slide,” and Kaohsiung has built a “70-meter slide” set to open on Shoushan Hill in the first half of 2018.

▲ “Vending machine portals” in Korean style have been popping up all over Taiwan, letting social media influencers snap stylish photos without traveling all the way to Korea. (Photo / Netizen54._.55Provided. Please do not reproduce without permission.)

3. Korean-style Vending Machine Portals
Korean style was all the rage in Taiwan in 2017. Ever since a pink vending machine-style portal appeared in a Seoul café, similar “vending machine portals” have been showing up all over Taiwan — in cafés, restaurants, and breakfast shops. This lets influencers take cool photos without having to go to Korea.

▲ Following the trend from the previous year, beating out autumn foliage viewing, 2017 was still the year of the bald cypress. (Photo / NetizenchenyunyaProvided. Please do not reproduce without permission.)

4. Bald Cypress Trees
Bald cypress trees, bald cypress trees, and more bald cypress trees. Following last year’s craze and beating out autumn foliage viewing, 2017 was still the year of the bald cypress. There’s no denying the appeal — “a bald cypress forest feels like being in Europe or America.” A towering tree with leaves in green, golden yellow, orange, red, and brown, even falling to the ground to form a cypress carpet or reflecting off the lake surface — who doesn’t love such a picturesque scene?

▲ Haidilao allows customers to bring their own ingredients free of charge, sparking discussion in Taiwan’s food scene. (Photo /Haiba Wei Food Travel Video DiaryProvided. Please do not reproduce images without permission to avoid copyright infringement.)

5. Wildly Creative Food Concepts That Break Market Norms
A Banqiao restaurant introduced a “You name the discount, we give it” promotion, and Haidilao offered to let customers bring their own ingredients without extra charges — both are brand-new innovations in Taiwan’s food scene.

▲ Lao Chen Cold Noodles offered “Free cold noodles if your surname is Chen” when it first opened. (Photo / By Reporter Hua Shaofu)

6. Crazy Surname Discounts
When Yonghe Cold Noodles Shop first opened, it launched a campaign offering free cold noodles to anyone with the surname Chen. A breakfast shop in Taipei City also offered a free main dish to customers who checked in if their name contained either "Merry Christmas" or "Happy New Year." The New Taipei City Civil Affairs Bureau also introduced in July a promotion allowing visitors with one of the top 10 surnames to enter 10 major New Taipei attractions for free.

▲ Nantou Caotun’s Formosa Village closed on December 31, 2017, and frequently held ID number matching events before then. (Photo courtesy of Formosa Village)

7. ID Number Matching Game
Nantou’s Formosa Village, which closed on its final day of business on December 31, 2017, often ran promotions offering free entry based on ID numbers. Other venues such as Fullon Hotels and Resorts and Leofoo Village Theme Park have also had similar offers.

▲ Kure City in Japan recruited people with the surname Wu from Taiwan to serve as tourism ambassadors and enjoy a free 4-day, 3-night trip. (Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

8. Japan Seeks Tourism Ambassadors
Limited to Taiwanese, this attracted many Japan enthusiasts. Kure City in Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan, recruited Taiwanese people with the surname Wu to be tourism ambassadors, offering them a free 4-day, 3-night trip around Japan. Later, Akita Prefecture launched a similar recruitment campaign without any surname restrictions—volunteers could sign up on the website for a free 4-day, 3-night tour of Japan.

▲ Penghu introduced a voucher subsidy program, which was fully claimed by residents on December 13, 2017. (Photo by reporter Lai Wen-xuan)

9. Penghu and Matsu Travel Subsidies
To boost off-season tourism, Penghu and Matsu respectively launched subsidy programs in September and November. Penghu allocated NT$16.4 million to offer travel vouchers—any non-local visiting Penghu for a three-day, two-night trip received a subsidy of NT$1,100 per person, but all were claimed by December 13. Matsu offered group accommodation subsidies for groups of five or more until March 31, 2018. Visitors staying overnight in all four townships could save up to NT$3,200 each.

▲ Brown sugar pearl fresh milk looks absolutely mouthwatering. (Photo provided by an IG user, no unauthorized reproductions to avoid copyright infringement.)chuehstagram_Provided content. Please do not reproduce or photograph it without permission to avoid copyright infringement.

10. Brown Sugar Pearl Fresh Milk
As visually flashy drinks lost their appeal, the hottest drink of 2017 was undoubtedly brown sugar pearl fresh milk. Fragrant, caramelized brown sugar poured directly into a bottle of fresh milk—it’s enough to make anyone’s mouth water just looking at it.