The Tourism Bureau will sponsor a nationwide night market competition to select the top five places suitable for tourism promotion, an official said yesterday
Chen Mei-hsiu (陳美秀), a Tourism Bureau section chief in charge of promotional affairs, said the night markets will compete in five categories.
“The competition aims to select [the night markets] that are the cleanest, the most friendly to foreign visitors, the most interesting, the easiest to stroll through and the richest in culinary diversity,” Chen said.
Night markets have emerged as the nation’s top tourist attraction, with 73 of every 100 visitors saying they intend to see night markets during their stay in Taiwan, according to the results of a survey conducted by the bureau last year.
In that survey, night markets beat out many of Taiwan’s major landmark attractions, such as Taipei 101, the National Palace Museum and Alishan (阿里山), to capture the No. 1 spot on the Top 10 list.
The competition to choose the nation’s top five night markets will be divided into three stages, Chen said. In the first phase, each city and county will be asked to recommend one to five night markets for initial screening by representatives of major local travel agencies and tour guide associations.
The field will be narrowed to 10 night markets in the second stage, decided by on-site visits of tourism experts and academics and an online poll. The final competition will take place in mid-August, Chen said.
Chen said that tourists from different countries tend to have different tastes and demands, citing for instance, the importance Japanese travelers place on clean food and a hygienic environment.
“Therefore, cleanliness is one of the five themes of the competition. We want to pick the cleanest night market to help attract more health-conscious foreigners to vacation in Taiwan,” Chen said.
In selecting the most foreigner-friendly night market, Chen said, globalization will be a major factor. One of the indicators will be signs, labels and menus in foreign languages to help overseas visitors understand what they are eating.
The night market that is easiest to walk through will be the one where walking directions are simple and clear and where overseas visitors are least likely to get lost.
To win the most interesting place title, the night market must feature a wide diversity of merchandise and foods, while the market with the most culinary diversity will be considered the one with the greatest variety of appealing foods and beverages, she said.
Chen said members of the public who vote in the online selection would have opportunities to win big prizes, including automobiles and vouchers tht van be used at night markets.
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