Aiming to double the number of foreign visitors to Taiwan within the next six years, the Cabinet will organize cross-departmental task forces to assist the Tourism Bureau in improving the nation's tourism industry, a Cabinet official said yesterday.
"The task forces will involve all Executive Yuan departments for each [government designated] tourist area so they will be able to improve the facilities and provide services that each area lacks," said Lin Sheng-fong (林盛豐), director of the Cabinet's tourism development committee.
He was speaking at a seminar organized by the Tourism Bureau to present the Cabinet's plan to boost the nation's tourism industry.
"The Tourism Bureau used to handle the problems relating to tourism attractions alone. Without proper cross-departmental coordination, it had often encountered difficulties when seeking assistance from other government sectors," Lin said.
"The working strategy [for the task forces] stresses effective management and cross-departmental negotiation," he says.
Doubling the nation's foreign visitors is one of 10 goals of "Challenge 2008," a six-year national development program proposed by Premier Yu Shyi-kun in May. It aims to raise the number of international travelers to Taiwan from the current 2.6 million to over 5 million each year before 2008.
"This will be a difficult challenge," Lai She-jen (
"However, if we can achieve it, not only foreigners, but also Taiwanese people will benefit from the high-quality tourism infrastructure and services."
According to Lai, tourism experts would be hired to assess each existing tourist area to point out what the assigned task force should be working on in order to improve the facilities or services.
Lai also said that the funds would be centralized.
"If all resources are integrated and plans are with the same goal, the funding will not be wasted," she said.
But she said that the specific amount allocated to the task was yet to be decided by the Council of Economic Planning and Development.
In order to achieve the goal, the Tourism Bureau would focus on improving the facilities and services available in the existing designated tourist areas, developing package tours and overall sightseeing services such as tour buses and budget accommodations.
Moreover, the bureau plans to promote Taiwan's natural and cultural attractions to other countries with the help of Taiwan embassies overseas and by actively holding international conventions.
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