The Executive Yuan yesterday approved a proposal to invest NT$10 billion (US$323.1 million) in domestic and international tourism to spur NT$122.6 billion of economic growth in the sector, the Tourism Administration said.
The four-year plan — which focuses on building tourism infrastructure in mountainous areas and the south — could be launched as early as next year, the agency told a weekly post-Cabinet meeting news conference in Taipei.
The Alishan (阿里山), Penghu, Sun Moon Lake (日月潭), Siraya (西拉雅), East Longitudinal Valley, East Coast, Southwest Coast and Dapeng Bay (大鵬灣) national scenic areas, as well as Yushan (玉山) and Kenting (墾丁) national parks, and the Pingtung County Government would jointly implement the program under the agency’s direction, it said.
Photo courtesy of the Executive Yuan
The goal is to bolster the competitiveness of local attractions in the international tourism market and increase visitors by 10 percent, it said.
The agency prepared policies aimed at promoting domestic tourism and increasing the quality of the tourist experience in the targeted locations, Tourism Administration Deputy Director-General Huang Shih-fang (黃勢芳) said.
The agency is drafting a proposal for Taiwanese businesses to incentivize their employees to vacation domestically, he said.
The Tourism Administration and Taiwan External Trade Development Council are to launch a collaboration to encourage foreigners visiting Taiwan on business to travel to other parts of the nation for pleasure, Huang said.
Deputy Minister of Transportation and Communications Lin Kuo-hsien (林國顯) said that, as of Wednesday, 6.93 million foreign nationals had visited Taiwan this year.
That puts the nation on track to beat last year’s 7.85 million visitors, he said.
A proposed agency-run tourism education and research institute, designed to burnish Taiwan’s global image as a holiday location, facilitate policy research and increase the industry’s access to expertise, would open by June next year, Lin said.
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