Yehliu Geopark (野柳風景特定區) has gifted Choshi City in Japan’s Chiba Prefecture tiles depicting the Queen’s Head (女王頭) rock to promote the tourist attraction in New Taipei City’s Wanli District (萬里).
Yehliu Geopark last month inked a sister-park deal with Choshi Geopark.
Only 5 percent of the 1.8 million tourists from Japan who visit the nation annually go to Yehliu, Yehliu Geopark head Yang Ching-chien (楊景謙) said, adding that they visit the park because of its rock formations.
Photo courtesy of Yehliu Geopark
“We plan to assemble the tiles in front of the railway station in Chiba and, along with billboard advertising, hope to attract more Japanese tourists to Yehliu,” Yang said.
Of the 2.5 million visitors to Yehliu last year, only 20 percent were Taiwanese, so foreign tourists comprise the majority of visitors, Yang said, citing Tourism Bureau statistics.
Tourism Bureau Director Chou Yung-hui (周永暉) said the bureau hoped to convince Japan Railways to allow painted advertisements on trains.
That would extend the reach of the ads from just one to multiple stations, Chou said, adding that advertising on the Japanese railways and in their facilities could make Japanese aware of Yehliu and persuade them to visit.
Meanwhile, Yang said that Mine Mayor Hiroshi Murata, whom he met during the signing of the Choshi pact, would arrive in Taiwan on Nov. 4 for a trip to Yehliu and possibly to sign another sister-park deal.
Mine is near Mount Asama Geopark in Japan, Yang said, adding that the visit showed there has been a positive response to Yehliu Geopark’s work to draw more visitors from abroad.
This is the fifth such deal that Yehliu has signed with a Japanese peer, Yang said.
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