Taiwan will soon start to play matchmaker for foreign tourists as part of a campaign to position itself as a “destination for romance,” the Tourism Bureau said yesterday.
“We want to explore every opportunity to make Taiwan ‘romantic,’” said Cheng Yi-ping (鄭一平), section chief at the bureau’s International Travel Division.
Beyond continuing to feature Taiwan as a romantic destination for spending honeymoons or shooting wedding photographs, Cheng said the bureau is trying to reach singles through event-based travel packages.
A pilot program will run on Nov. 24 and Nov. 25 to test the waters, Cheng said, with about 100 single foreign tourists (half men and half women aged 20 or older) to be randomly divided into small groups as they tour picturesque townships in southern Taiwan.
Cheng said the itinerary was partly patterned after the popular Japanese realitsy show Ainori, or “Love Ride,” which tracks the budding love between strangers traveling in foreign lands on the same bus.
In the tour to Tainan, she said, the “assigned” groups will have the chance to visit four temples dedicated to the Old Man Under the Moon (the god of love and marriage).
The visitors, mostly from Japan, South Korea and Malaysia, will also participate in what the bureau described as “surprise events” to further interact with one another.
“We have received a very positive response so far,” Cheng said. “You can tell from the fact that we have received enquiries from gay people and a mother-daughter duo.”
Even if some of the people brought together on the tours do not hit it off, Cheng said she believed the campaign would enhance Taiwan’s reputation as a fun and romantic tourist destination. She also said she expected it to create a loyal base of return customers who visit Taiwan often because of the bonds they have developed with the country and its people.
Aside from offering the Old Man Under the Moon theme, the bureau will extend the “romantic” concept to other theme tours, shaping packages by appealing to people’s fantasies and imagination, Cheng said.
“Our concept is that being romantic means being able to feel the various joys of life,” she said.
For example, a celebrity chasing itinerary targeting the fantasies of Southeast Asian tourists will be offered next year through a collaboration between the bureau and the local entertainment industry, she said.
The tour concept is to have fans of Taiwanese rapper and actor Jay Chou (周杰倫), for instance, tour the spots that appear in his work, attend his promotional events and visit the restaurants or shops he owns.
“Even just a glimpse of his agent’s office or office building will do,” she said. “You call it crazy? We call it romantic.”
Taiwan does not exclude the possibility of having formal diplomatic relations with countries that also have formal ties with China, regardless of Beijing’s stance, Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) said on Sunday. There was speculation in 2012 that Honduras was attempting to have simultaneous diplomatic relations with Taiwan and China, an idea that then-minister of foreign affairs David Lin (林永樂) rejected. Honduras severed formal ties with Taiwan on Sunday morning after establishing diplomatic relations with Beijing. President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) administration has taken a more practical approach to relations with like-minded countries since assuming government in 2016. Previous administrations took the
Seven senior faculty members, including the principal, of a high school in Taichung were temporarily suspended from their jobs on Friday, pending an investigation by the Taichung Education Bureau into alleged bullying and abuse that led to the suicide of a student last month. The city’s education officials were too slow to suspend those involved, the student’s father told a news conference on Wednesday, at which Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chang Liao Wan-chien (張廖萬堅) and members of the Humanistic Education Foundation were also present. The boy had been a good student and a high achiever during elementary and junior-high, and had
ORIGIN UNKNOWN: The Leofoo Village Theme Park and Taipei Zoo have accounted for their baboons, as authorities continue a 12-day capture attempt Authorities in Taoyuan are searching for a non-native baboon, possibly of the chacma species, that has been spotted several times in the city’s Pingjhen District (平鎮) over the past 12 days, and was most recently seen in coastal Sinwu District (新屋). The baboon was first spotted near a local factory on March 10 in central Taoyuan, Jhensing Borough Warden Huang Chih-chieh (黃志杰) said. Huang said he requested the Leofoo Village Theme Park’s help after a second sighting on Saturday. In other sightings, the baboon raided fruit and vegetable gardens on private property, and has evaded one capture attempt via a tranquilizer dart. Media reported
Taiwan would have established formal relations with Argentina long ago if not for China’s interference, Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Alexander Yui told US-based Spanish-language online news outlet Infobae in an interview published on Tuesday. Beijing has left behind a string of unfulfilled promises in Latin America, including pledges to build the Grand Nicaragua Canal and airports, docks, ports and industrial zones in El Salvador, he said. Meanwhile, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Mexico and other countries enjoy pragmatic and improving relations with Taiwan based on cooperation on the economy, culture, technology and science, he said. While Taiwan is “happy to live and let live,”
RSS