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10th annual ITF opens at TWTC

The 10th annual Taipei International Travel Fair (Taipei ITF 2002) will be held from November 23-26, 2002 at Halls A and D of the Taipei World Trade Center (TWTC). The event, organized by the Taiwan Visitors Association, under the supervision and guidance of the Tourism Bureau and the Ministry of Transportation is among the most professional travel exhibitions in Asia and is the largest and only professional travel exhibition in Taiwan.

This year, around 1,750 representatives, 454 exhibitors from 51 countries/regions will participate in the event. There will be a total of 524 booths and 200 local and foreign buyers from Taiwan and eleven other countries are also invited, said Quentin Shao, executive director of Taiwan Visitors Association.

With a total number of 61 booths that show various tourism spots, Japan is still the largest foreign exhibition country, since they value Taiwan's market. Familiar countries such as Hong Kong, Macao, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, Hawaii, Singapore, Korea, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Palau, France, Spain, Switzerland and Turkey are all trying their best, hoping to be the brightest star in the show to attract more attention.

Central Asian countries with colorful cultural background such as Croatia and Russia also have representatives; Oman even formed a large delegation to participate.

Countries such as India, Finland and South Africa are also attending, surprisingly, the two small countries within South Africa; Swaziland and Malawi are also participating at this year's ITF, showing the "Golden Africa" experience.

Taiwan's Cruise Lines are also setting up a special Cruise Line area, hoping to introduce the Luxurious Cruise Line travel to the locals. Right in front of the central stage will be the hotel space, there "will be around 30 hotels competing and showing their hotel services, the customers may be able to make their own choice depending on their own needs.

Plus, there will also be many professional travel and tourism magazine publishers attending, providing people with the best traveling ways and the best route.

To help increase the local tourism of Taiwan, the local governments of the counties and cities are all trying their best, competing with each other. Due to the fact that it is the International Year of Ecotourism, most of the exhibits are about Ecotourism.

According to Shao, there will be a total of 20 government organizations attending, including five central units; Tourism Bureau, Council of Agriculture, Veterans Affairs Commission, Construction and Planning Administration (Ministry of Interior) and Center for Disease Control; 15 counties and cities governments, including Taipei, Keelung, Ilan County, Hualien County, Taitung County, Pingtung County, Kaohsiung County, Tainan, Chiayi County, Nantou County, Hsinchu County, Penghu County, Kinmen County and Lien Jang County.

Hualien County and Taitung County are going to join force and work together to form "Hua Tung Gwan," which will be introducing the beauty of the eastern part of Taiwan, it will be a spectacular event. Due to the fact that it is common for locals to travel abroad today, the rate of people getting infectious diseases and carrying it back from abroad is increasing, that is why the Center for Disease control will attend the ITF, to educate people about the subject, to give them the right idea.

Shao remarked, "Our aim is the pursuit of professionalism and stress on service quality," and "constant innovation, change, and improvement." The Taipei International Travel Fair, with its extensive facilities, offers both exhibitors and participants a convenient environment to gather the newest information about travel, as well as promote and exchange information and to look for the latest business opportunities. Our aim is to also promote Taiwan's scenic attractions to locals and foreigners.

In line with the Executive Yuan's promotion of Taiwan tourism, The Taiwan Visitors Association will continue to promote international tourism cooperation and exchange, so that Taiwan's rich tourism resources can be attractively presented to the world. We also want to introduce the country's cultural activities onto the international stage and promote international tourist exchange and cooperation.

In order to provide the participants with more business opportunities, the Travel Mart of the ITF will not only invite overseas buyers who feature Taiwan as destination, but also local inbound and outbound tour operators.

"Professionalism and high service quality are the two major objectives of ITF." Stanley Yen, the chairman of the Taiwan Visitors Association indicated, "This year, ITF will have two new programs." The first is a Travel Seminar.

In collaboration with PATA, we will be holding a PATA-ITF Travel Industry Forum with a keynote address by Peter de Jong, president and CEO of Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA). Jong's title will be the "State of Play of Travel and Tourism in Pacific Asia."

Various local and foreign specialists will discuss, address and give a lecture on the subject of popular tourism sites and ways; only available to buyers and exhibitors.

On Nov. 25, Kim Kwang Nam, consultant, PATA will speak on the topic "Sustainable Tourism Development and Management -- Korea Case Study and Ken Scott, director -- communication, PATA will discuss "Effective PR and Communications for the Travel Industry.

On Nov. 26, Ping-du, Lee, professor of biochemistry, Department of Agricultural Chemistry, National Taiwan University, speaks on the topic "Sustainable Tourism Development and Management -- Taiwan Case Study"; Kim Kwang Nam, consultant, PATA discusses "Carrying-capacity at National Parks and Heritage Site," and Ken Scott, director -- communication, PATA speaks on "Crisis Communications."

The second new program is a Product Presentation. Exhibitors may have direct contact with spectators, thus increasing the promotion. All the visitors are welcome to participate.

This year's Taipei ITF online will be open to consumers for one month, from November 23 through December 22; you are welcome to get online for information of the fair.

Due to the traffic controls during the rush hours around the World Trade Center, this year the access time of the fair will be changed to 10am to 6pm. For safety reason, children under the height of 120cm will not be permitted to enter the fair.
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