Yilan County will reposition itself in China to take advantage of the impending and long-anticipated opening to independent Chinese tourists.
Yilan, known for its natural beauty and rich culture, will try to establish a Web site in China to promote tourism in the northeastern county, Yilan County Business and Tourism Department director Chou Ching-an (周慶安) said.
The Web site, which will use simplified Chinese characters and drop the “.tw” suffix from its address, will help increase the visibility of Yilan-based hotels, restaurants and homestays in China and help the county attract independent Chinese tourists, Chou said.
Using a Web site address without the “.tw” will be imperative because almost all Taiwan-based Web sites have been blocked in China, he said.
Meanwhile, Yilan County Lodging Association chairman Lin Chia-min (林佳民) said Yilan homestays and bed and breakfasts (B&B) have successfully attracted backpackers from Singapore, Malaysia, Macau and New Zealand over the past two years through travel shows in Southeast Asia and promotion on the Internet.
However, he agreed that Yilan homestays and B&Bs would have a tough time drawing independent travelers from China via the Internet if they insisted on using the Internet domain suffix “.tw.”
Liu Tzu-ning (劉祖寧), a manager with the Hotel Royal in Yilan’s resort town of Jiaosi (礁溪), said the upscale hotel’s management would travel to Beijing and Shanghai later this month to meet travel agencies there to capitalize on the new free independent travelers (FIT) program.
The program is expected to start no later than July 1, with Beijing and Shanghai residents being the first group of Chinese to be eligible, followed by Xiamen residents, the Mainland Affairs Council has said.
A daily maximum of 500 Chinese FITs will be allowed to enter Taiwan in the program’s initial phase, the council said.
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