Taiwan has become an incentive tour destination for companies seeking to treat their employees, the Tourism Bureau said.
The bureau’s statistics showed that approximately 9,000 tourists arrived on incentive tours in the first quarter of this year, a 26 percent increase compared with the same period last year. There were 36 groups from Japan and South Korea, 16 from Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia, and 12 from the Philippines, Thailand and Indonesia. Five incentive tour groups arrived from China.
Most of the tours were organized by large international firms, including Novartis (China), Adidas (Hong Kong) and Daikin Air Conditioning (Hong Kong), the bureau said.
The bureau said Taiwan’s -generous donations to the victims of the earthquake and the ensuing tsunami in Japan last year has motivated Japanese corporations such as Honda Motor and Coca Cola’s subsidiary in Sendai to choose Taiwan for their tours.
Meanwhile, corporations in Hong Kong chose Taiwan because of the popularity of the Taiwanese film You Are the Apple of My Eye (那一年，我們一起追的女孩), the bureau said, adding that the tours were organized to allow participants try traditional Taiwanese snacks and participate in the cultural events that the lead characters in the movie experienced.
Beside popular tourist attractions like Taipei 101 and Sun Moon Lake (日月潭), the bureau said some of the corporations arranged for employees to visit scenic towns such as New Taipei City’s (新北市) Jioufen (九份) and Jinguashih (金瓜石) or holiday farms across the nation.
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