Tourism Bureau of Taiwan invited Joseph Rosendo, along with his wife, Julie Rosendo, to 2015 Taiwan Lantern Festival in Taichung for his work to promote tourism in Taiwan and gave a Certificate of Appreciation to them. Joseph Rosendo was the winner of the 41st Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lifestyle/Travel Host for an episode featuring 2013 Taiwan Lantern Festival. They were invited to revisit Hsinchu and were further recognized by Magistrate Chiu of Hsinchu County, the site of the 2013 Taiwan Lantern Festival. Rosendo became emotional several times during the meeting with the magistrate. He gave his regards to cute and friendly people in Taiwan and congratulated the magistrate for his successful leadership in holding the Lantern Festival. They were made the Honorary Citizens of Hsinchu for his efforts in promoting Hsinchu and Taiwan in general to American people. The magistrate welcomed them to visit Taiwan again at any time.
In coordination with the Tourism Bureau of Taiwan, Travelscope, a famous travel show aired on Public Broadcasting Service, produced an episode featuring 2013 Taiwan Lantern Festival in sinchu County. It drew the audience into sceneries in Taiwan through the perspective of foreign tourists. The lantern festival was held with the theme of dragon, the Chinese horoscope sign of 2013. The main lantern was “Soaring Dragon” with the decoration of persimmon lanterns, displaying splendid colors and lights. Other events included releasing sky lanterns in Pingxi, glove puppet shows to entertain the deity, small eats, etc. The program introduced the traditional festival in Taiwan to American audience.
Rosendo expressed that he was impressed with the friendliness and hospitality of Taiwanese people. He said that compare to the other countries he had been to, Taiwan had the warmest people. He was deeply touched by the people in Taiwan during the film shooting process, and he wanted to share the honor of winning Emmy Award with all the Taiwanese friends who had shared their life stories with the team. The impression of Taiwan, as Rosendo indicated, in his childhood was that the toys he had were all made in Taiwan. When he grew older, Rosendo was impressed by the technology development of Taiwan. It was not until 2007 that he started shooting 7 episodes of travel shows featuring Taiwan, including the urban, the rural, national parks, tea cultures, Taiwan Lantern Festival and railroad in Taiwan. He was immediately attracted by the local customs of Taiwan. Rosendo was overjoyed at the news that a Taiwanese resident in Los Angeles donated a medical vehicle to support cultural development. He was happy that he was able to help people in Hsinchu County in return.
Xin-Ren Lin, the director of Tourism Representative in Los Angeles of Tourism Bureau, said that it was special to have 2013 Taiwan Lantern Festival standing on the largest international stage in television industry. He had attended Emmy awards two years in a row with Rosendo. The episode about tea culture had three nominations in 2013. In 2014, Taiwan Lantern Festival also had three nominations, winning for Daily Emmy Award for the outstanding host in lifestyle/travel. With tears in his eyes, Rosendo was speechless over winning the award. He stressed that the award-winning program would greatly help in promoting Taiwan tourism because the audience would purchase digital copies of the show and ask information about traveling to Taiwan. Even after the festival had ended, it continued to benefit the Taiwan’s tourism industry.
2013 Taiwan Lantern Festival in Hsinchu County had animation, technology, and humanity as its main themes with 28 lantern display areas. It attracted over 12 million tourists, creating 10 billion of value in Taiwan’s tourism industry over the 15-day celebration and achieved a 98.7% satisfaction. Discovery Channel also selected the 2013 Taiwan lantern Festival as one of the best festivals in the world. For that reason, Mayor Chiu has received 2013 3rd Chinese Ten Outstanding Project Managers’ Award and 7th 100MVP Managers’ award in 2014 from Manager Today.