Taiwan does a lot to try and get other countries around the world to be aware of Taiwan. Whether it's building the world's tallest building at the time, holding some international event, or straight paying other countries to acknowledge them. These practices always leave me conflicted because while yes it's good for Taiwan if more countries know Taiwan and it's capabilities, but also many of these actions seem forced or wasted and that time, money, and energy would be better spent improving the many domestic issues.
In 2010 and 2011 Taipei held a flora expo. They spent about four years remodeling several parks in Taipei. They added many flowers of course but the main additions were more than ten structures to house various exhibits. These were not just flower exhibits but also exhibits that showed off various pieces of technology designed by Taiwanese companies. All in all it was a big advertisement for Taiwan, with the plan that foreign tourists would come for the flowers and learn more about Taiwan.
While exact numbers are not released, i'm pretty sure that it didn't work the way the intended. Yes many people went, and it was pretty much packed everyday, but most of the visitors seemed to be Taiwanese. granted many people from all over the island came, so it did improve domestic tourism and pride, however it missed it's mark on getting Taiwan more recognition on a global scale.
I personally did not care for it, as I am a jaded city slicker. So I was upset they closed down one of my favorite parks for the years they were remodeling it. Also the construction messed up traffic in the area I was living at that time. But mainly because I am very familiar with some of the larger domestic problems in Taiwan and hate to see them pushed to the side so that some person sitting in Denmark can be bored at work and see some article about a flower show in a country called Taiwan.
