More needs to be done to encourage Muslim visitors to visit Taiwan, Saudi Arabian travel industry representatives said, as the Tourism Bureau aims to attract more Muslim tourists.
Cathay Pacific Airways Riyadh-based sales and marketing manager Mazen Ibrahim Kabbout and several Cathay affiliated Saudi Arabian travel agents were this week invited by the bureau to visit Taiwan. It is the first time the bureau has invited Middle Eastern agents to explore business opportunities in Taiwan.
Taiwan needs to resolve visa issues if it wants to draw more tourists from Saudi Arabia, Kabbout said.
“All Arabs, especially Saudi Arabians, need to arrange visas before they come to Taiwan, but they do not have to arrange visas for Hong Kong or the Philippines. As such, it is easier for them to travel somewhere else,” he said, adding that Taiwan should waive visa requirements or make it visa-free for visitors who travel for a certain number of days.
Taiwan also needs more English or Arabic translators for tourists, as well as more Halal certified restaurants, Kabbout said
Tom Yang, president of Big 5 Tours Co, one of the nation’s 15 certified Arabic-language tour guides, said that almost all Arabic-language tour guides have other full-time jobs because they cannot sustain themselves as a guide for Middle Eastern tour groups.
The nation’s Arabic-language tour guides mainly come from three different sources, with the first of them being university graduates studying Arabic, Yang said.
Some former military attaches have studied Arabic while stationed in the Middle East and they have became certified Arabic-language tour guides on their return to Taiwan, Yang said.
The third source is Muslims living in Taiwan who have studied Arabic overseas on scholarships provided by mosques in Taiwan, Yang said.
Yang also said more flights between Taiwan and Middle Eastern countries were necessary.
Seoul has become a popular travel destination for Arabs because Korean Air and Saudi Arabian Airlines have launched direct flights between Seoul and Riyadh, Yang said.
Yang said the group was taken to Taiwan’s scenic destinations and tried mango shaved ice, as well as Taiwanese Halal food.
The bureau said the group also explored medical tourism opportunities with a visit to the Taipei Beitou Health Management Hospital.
National Chengchi University has the nation’s only Arabic-language and culture department. The number of graduates has declined from 40 in 2012 to 25 in 2014.
Bureau statistics showed the nation had about 200,000 visitors from Muslim-majority nations last year, up 11.1 percent from 2014.
The majority of Muslim tourists are from Southeast Asian nations.
FAST TRACK? Chinese spouses must renounce their Chinese citizenship and pledge allegiance to Taiwan to gain citizenship, some demonstrators said Opponents and supporters of a bill that would allow Chinese spouses to obtain Taiwanese citizenship in four years instead of six staged protests near the Legislative Yuan in Taipei yesterday morning. Those who oppose the bill proposed by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) demanded that Chinese spouses be granted citizenship only after renouncing their Chinese citizenship, passing a citizenship test and pledging allegiance to Taiwan. The demonstrators, who were protesting at a side entrance to the Legislative Yuan on Jinan Road, were mostly members of the Taiwan Association of University Professors and other organizations advocating Taiwanese independence. Supporters of the bill, led
SILENT MAJORITY: Only 1 percent of Chinese rejected all options but war to annex Taiwan, while one-third viewed war as unacceptable, a university study showed Many Chinese are more concerned with developments inside their country than with seeking unification with Taiwan, al-Jazeera reported on Friday. Although China claims Taiwan as its own territory and has vowed to annex it, by force if necessary, 23-year-old Chinese Shao Hongtian was quoted by al-Jazeera as saying that “hostilities are not the way to bring China and Taiwan together.” “I want unification to happen peacefully,” Shao said. Al-Jazeera said it changed Shao’s name to respect his wish for anonymity. If peaceful unification is not possible, Shao said he would prefer “things to remain as they are,” adding that many of his friends feel
Taiwan has “absolute air superiority” over China in its own airspace, Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) told a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee on Monday, amid concern over whether Taipei could defend itself against a military incursion by Beijing. Po made the remarks in response to a question from Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chiu Chih-wei (邱志偉) on whether Taiwan would have partial or complete air superiority if Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) warplanes were to enter Taiwan’s airspace. Po, a retired pilot, said that the Taiwanese military has “absolute air superiority” over PLA
A shipment of basil pesto imported by Costco Wholesale Taiwan from the US in the middle of last month was intercepted at the border after testing positive for excessive pesticide residue, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. Samples taken from a shipment of the Kirkland Signature brand of basil pesto imported by Costco contained 0.1 milligrams per kilogram of ethylene oxide, exceeding the non-detectable limit. Ethylene oxide is a carcinogenic substance that can be used as a pesticide. The 674kg shipment of basil pesto would either be destroyed or returned to its country of origin, as is the procedure for all