The Penghu County Government is planning to launch a three-month-long carnival aimed at promoting its beaches and bay, which was named one of the world’s most beautiful last year, the Tourism Bureau said.
The festival is to run from Saturday next week to Oct. 26 and will feature live concerts, fireworks and sporting events in a bid to firmly establish Penghu as a global tourist destination, bureau officials said.
“We hope our tourism campaign will offer tourists more flexibility, to offset any reluctance to travel to remote areas,” Chen Shun-hsu (陳順序) of the Penghu National Scenic Area Administration said.
The public relations push is aiming to capitalize on Penghu entering the Most Beautiful Bays in the World Club last year, Chen said.
The France-based club, founded in 1997, is a UNESCO-sponsored nongovernmental organization dedicated to the preservation and sustainable management of coastal areas.
It comprises about 38 bays spread across 30 countries and territories across the globe, including the US’ San Francisco Bay, China’s Qingdao Bay, Vietnam’s Halong Bay and France’s Mont Saint-Michel.
Chen said that about 200,000 tourists — mostly from Taiwan proper — are expected to travel to Penghu this summer.
Penghu attracts about 800,000 visitors annually, but only about 10 percent of them are foreigners, Chen said.
To draw more tourists from overseas, county officials have headed to countries such as Japan and South Korea to promote travel to the islands, he said.
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