With the two-month school summer vacation around the corner, the Greater Tainan Government’s Cultural Affairs Bureau on Thursday launched a tour package featuring heritage sites and food delicacies in a bid to boost the city’s tourism and food industries.
The package, priced at NT$168, offers tourists an admission ticket to one of the three Dutch colonial period sites — Anping Fort (安平古堡), Anping Tree House (安平樹屋) and Chihkan Tower (赤嵌樓), also known as Fort Provintia.
It also includes three coupons that can be exchanged for a variety of local delicacies and another coupon that allows buyers to either visit the Eternal Golden Castle (億載金城) or rent a bicycle for four hours for free. The tickets and coupons are valid until Dec. 13.
Photo: Meng Ching-tsu, Taipei Times
Cultural Affairs Bureau Director Yeh Tse-shan (葉澤山) said the special package offer aims to allow visitors to tour the city in the most economical and environmentally friendly way possible.
The bureau’s Web site provides more information on the special offer, Yeh said.
The bureau launched the tour package after a similar deal last year — which included admission to three historical sites, one bicycle rental coupon and coupons for seven kinds of local cuisines — was well-received.
However, as some people complained that last year’s package, which cost NT$299 per person, contained too many locations for them to visit in a day, the bureau decided to reduce the number of places covered in the package and lower the price accordingly, bureau officials said.
Even though last year’s package was not introduced until late July, more than 8,000 were sold, bureau officials said, adding that they had raised the sale target on the package to 20,000 because it was more appealing in terms of price and contents.
Food vendors said the new package deal could help boost an industry crippled by the recent spate of food scares.
Jui Chen Oyster Omelet (瑞珍蚵仔煎), one of the nine eateries featured in this year’s tourism package, said while it would not make much of a profit from the package offer, inclusion in last year’s package had brought the restaurant long-term growth, as almost 70 percent of package buyers who visited it returned.
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