With 516 travel-business-related units from 58 countries and a total of 784 sales booths, the 2005 Taipei International Travel Fair (Taipei ITF) is hitting new heights.
What began 16 years ago as a small fair focusing on local tourism has now become the largest of its kind in Asia. The event will open to the public starting from today and last until Sunday.
The Taipei ITF is a major promotion platform for tourism players from around the world who wish to enter the Asian market. Last year, 500 units from 55 countries participated in the travel fair by renting 720 sales booths.
During a four-day period last year there were over 114,456 visitors. The organizer, Taiwan Visitors Association, is expecting another record-breaking number of visitors to attend this year's travel expo.
The exhibition booths this year have been divided into six areas: including Taiwan, the Asia-Pacific, Europe, the Americas, Africa, and the Middle East. There are also booths for youth travel, hotels/resorts, and travel-related items.
Among the 58 participating countries, Brazil, Paraguay, Peru, the Solomon Islands, St. Christopher and St. Vincent are the newcomers. Australia and Vietnam make their way back to Taipei ITF after being absent for some years.
As usual, tourism authorities from Japan, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Macau and some Central American countries are making a strong showing.
"Over 800,000 Taiwanese have visited California every year. Yet, only 3,000 Taiwanese have applied for visas from here to go to Mexico, which is adjacent to California. Our country has magnificent food, music, Mayan culture and many cultural heritage sites to offer to the Taiwanese tourists," said Edimundo Arceo, director general of the Mexican Trade Services.
"We'd like to see more of them visiting Mexico. That is why we have sent our best musical teams, straight from Mexico, to this exposition."
According to statistics released by the Tourism Bureau, a record-breaking 7.78 million Taiwanese went abroad last year. This means one third of Taiwan's total populace traveled abroad in 2004. This rate is far higher than the world's other big travelers, Japan, where one-sixth of the population took outbound flights. In contrast, the number of visitors to Taiwan fell short of the 3.2 million target set for last year, with a total of 2.95 million visitors.
These figures provide a good reason for the Taiwan Visitors Association, in collaboration with the Tourism Bureau, to channel more of its efforts to bolster Taiwan tourism at this Fair.
Stanley Yen (
Furthermore, youth travel market is growing quickly and will turn into a major driving force, boosting Taiwan's tourist industry in the near future. "A 10 percent growth rate next year is easily within the reach," Yen said.
It is worthwhile noting, however, that Yen makes this prediction in the context of excluding the China factor. If Taiwan agrees somehow to accommodate Chinese tourists next year, the number of visitors to Taiwan could comfortably add double-digit growth.
National security concerns and over-staying Chinese visitors are the two thorny issues that currently restrain the government from adopting an open-door policy.
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