While food safety issues have shaken public confidence, they are not expected to hit the tourism industry, which has largely been built around Taiwan’s reputation as a destination for dining, government data and industry insiders suggested.
No immediate decline in tourist numbers has been seen since September, when cooking oil products produced by Ting Hsin International Group (頂新國際) were revealed to be unfit for human consumption, according to Tourism Bureau data.
Nearly 850,000 foreign visitors came to Taiwan in October, marking 25 percent year-on-year growth, the data showed.
Even Chinese tour groups, a sector vulnerable to the news because of fierce market competition involving low-budget tours, showed growth.
Between Sept. 27 and Oct. 6, 125,000 Chinese tourists visited Taiwan during and around the time of China’s Golden Week holiday, a 30 percent year-on-year increase, National Immigration Agency data showed.
“Taiwan’s tourism sector has been well-established over the years and is not likely to suffer setbacks because of a few negative incidents, unless there are diseases or natural disasters,” said Lai Ping-jung (賴炳榮), director of the Tourism Bureau’s Hotel, Travel and Training Division.
Lai said the only time Taiwan’s tourism industry has been seriously hit was in 2003, when the outbreak of SARS resulted in a 24.5 percent annual decline in tourist numbers to just 2.24 million arrivals that year.
Even so, the bureau has stepped up efforts to ensure quality in the sector, working with the Ministry of Health and Welfare and city and county governments to carry out spot-checks on hotels, restaurants and shopping centers.
There have been three large-scale inspections over the past two months to examine food quality, sanitation and personnel training amid the bureau’s bid to overhaul the tourism industry.
Travel Quality Assurance Association chairman Christopher Hsu said he shared the optimistic outlook on travel to Taiwan, which celebrated receiving a record-high 9 million foreign visitors on Dec. 3.
However, Lin Ting-kuo (林定國), director of the association that runs Taipei’s Ningxia Night Market (寧夏夜市), said that about a dozen vendors who sell fried food in the market have seen sales drop by between 10 and 20 percent.
He said that the trend could end up being good for the night market, as it could spur a move toward healthier food.
To restore confidence, the night market is also working with the city government on a platform for registering the sources of vendors’ ingredients, Lin said.
Tourists now can scan a QR code at a vendor’s stand to learn where their food comes from, he said.
Pastry Association of Kaohsiung chairwoman Chang Mei-hua said the baking business in Greater Kaohsiung has also seen a nearly 20 percent drop in sales, but it has since recovered.
While few are panicking, experts say the nation must learn from the spate of food safety scares to avoid making similar mistakes again.
Shih Hsin University associate professor of tourism Chen Chia-yu (陳家瑜) said Taiwan cannot afford another food scandal.
“If food scares like these happen once or twice, tourists can forget and forgive, but if there is a third time, a fourth time, it will become an issue for Taiwan,” she said.
That worry has prompted the Taiwan Visitors Association, the nation’s largest and oldest tourism association, to take over the management of the Taiwan Culinary Exhibition, starting next year.
The fair, which has been co-hosted by several smaller tourism organizations in recent years, can better reach the international market through more systematic planning and integration of resources, association chairwoman Janice Lai (賴瑟珍) said.
“We want to rebuild Taiwan’s reputation as the kingdom of good food,” she said.
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