The nation is today to welcome the first group of international tourists who are to travel around Taiwan proper on a cruise ship and visit some of the nation’s outlying islands, the Marine Port Bureau said on Tuesday.
The cruise ship Noble Caledonia is to arrive at the Port of Keelung on Saturday, when about 100 British tourists are to board the vessel, bureau Deputy Director-General Chen Pin-chuan (陳賓權) said.
The tour follows the “fly-cruise” model, in which tourists arrive in a country on an airplane and then board a ship to visit tourist attractions.
The ship had only stopped in Hualien before, Chen said.
Although some tour operators had previously organized fly-cruise tours in Taiwan, this would be the first time that a fly-cruise tour group would board a ship to travel around Taiwan and embark on an island-hopping trip to some of the nation’s outlying islands, he said.
The tourist group is scheduled to arrive at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport today, according to an itinerary obtained by the Tourism Bureau. They are to spend two nights in Taipei, visiting tourist attractions in the city, as well as in New Taipei City and Keelung.
Then they are to board the cruise ship in Keelung and leave for Taichung on Saturday night, according to the itinerary.
During their stay in Taichung, they are to visit Sun Moon Lake, Chung Tai Chan Monastery and other attractions in central Taiwan.
Between Monday and Friday next week, they are to tour Kinmen, Penghu, Taitung and Hualien counties and Tainan, where they are to visit some former military facilities in Kinmen and Fort Provintia in Tainan, as well as the Amis Folk Center in Taitung and Taroko Gorge in Hualien.
After touring Taiwan, the ship is to head for Japan, Chen said, adding that the tourists are to spend four days there before flying back to the UK.
Chen said the tour costs about NT$300,000 per person.
“This group consists of high-end customers interested in quality tours, and seeking to explore the cultural and natural scenes in a certain region or country,” he said.
The ship has capacity of 114 passengers and has 75 luxury suites.
The the cruise ship operator scouted the travel route before it started marketing the tour to customers in the UK, Maritime Affairs Administration Division head Lai Ping-jung (賴炳榮) said.
The operator worked with a Taiwanese travel agency to help arrange the tour, he said.
Other operators of small European cruise liners similar to Noble Caledonia are also interested in selling Taiwan tour packages, Lai said.
More fly-cruise tour groups from Europe might come if these tourists like what they see, he said.
International cruise ships can only stop at large seaports because some countries do not have piers big enough to accommodate them, the bureau said.
However, newer cruise ships’ capacities vary from more than 2,000 passengers to about 100, the bureau said, adding that the smaller ships are better suited for island-hopping tours.
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