As an island nation renowned for its yacht-building, Taiwan should take an open attitude toward the development of a yachting services industry, the Council for Economic Planning and Development (CEPD) said yesterday.
San Gee (單驥), deputy minister of the CEPD, said in a seminar on developing the service industry that it seemed ironic that the government restricts the development of local yachting services for security reasons, even as South Korea began to develop maritime tourism this year.
Taiwan is well-known internationally for its yacht-building industry. However, people in Taiwan have no experience of yachting, San said, adding that the government should consider a different attitude toward developing tourism.
Despite the threat from North Korea, South Korea still decided to develop its coastal leisure recreation business to stimulate domestic demand and is considering loosening restrictaions on yachting licenses, San said.
As South Korea has taken an open attitude, Taiwan can surely follow suit, San said.
Singling out Kueishan Island (龜山島) as an example, Sun said that the volcanic islet off the coast of Toucheng in northeast Taiwan is actually very close to the coast. However, as the government has set numerous restrictions on visiting the island, people feel it is a distant place.
He said that the government should adopt supporting measures such as using a Global Positioning System to manage the island.
The island’s administration said people who want to visit must file applications via its Web site three to 20 days before their scheduled visit.
As the number of total visitors cannot exceed 400 people during weekdays and 500 during weekends, the computer makes random selections each day. Selected applicants have to travel there with qualified boat operators.
One of Taiwan’s major yacht-builders has described Taiwan as the only country in the world where yachts are built on land, and yachting was, until recently, not permitted.
Horizon Yachts said the largest builder in Asia and sixth-largest in the world, Taiwan’s yacht industry is a 30-year veteran in the yachting world, even though the sport is non-existent in the country as a result of restrictive regulations.
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