The Tourism Administration plans to boost tourism by improving the quality of tourist sites and using celebrity endorsements to change Taiwan’s international image, Minister of Transportation and Communications Li Meng-yen (李孟諺) said in an interview published yesterday.
Taiwan has lots of beautiful nature sites and 268 magnificent mountains that are at least 3,000m tall — the highest density in Asia — along with convenient railways, hiking trails and cycle paths, Li said in an interview with the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times).
While there are many cultural sites for tourists to explore, Taiwan is also a “nation of gourmet food,” where many different places, not just one city, are dotted with local culinary delights, he said.
Photo: Huang Chun-hsuan, Taipei Times
Foreign food shows are encouraged to visit Taiwan and shoot programs about local foods to help attract more tourists, Li said.
For example, the agency has assisted the Japanese drama Kodoku no Gurume (The Solitary Gourmet) in shooting scenes of tasty foods in Taiwan, he said, adding that he had seen another Japanese TV program comedically introduce distinctive Taiwanese foods, making them look toothsome.
The agency would also invite celebrities from Japan, South Korea and Southeast Asian countries to endorse and help promote Taiwan as an attractive tourist destination in their countries, Li said.
Affected by an earthquake in Hualien County in April, Typhoon Gaemi last month and China’s military drills around Taiwan recently, Taiwan’s global image on overseas news media has become one of a place stricken by natural disasters and on the brink of war, he said.
Japanese tourists used to account for the majority of Taiwan’s inbound travelers, but the depreciation of the yen has also reduced the number of tourists from Japan, Li said.
Therefore, it is important to correct and promote Taiwan’s international image by placing advertisements at influential platforms, such as the BBC and CNN, he added.
Tourism in Hualien and Taitung counties slumped after the earthquake in April and the occupation rate of local hotels declined to about 10 percent, a huge difference compared with the national average of 40 percent, Li said.
Although the central government has boosted the occupation rate to 24 percent via an accommodation subsidy program, many travelers canceled their reservations after the typhoon cut off transportation, he said, adding that it is necessary to support the tourism industry during these hardships.
The key to improving the tourism industry’s performance is in improving the overall experience for tourists, Li said.
The government should finance popular tourist destinations such as the northeast coast, the East Rift Valley, Kenting and Alishan Forest Railway, and enhance tourism quality such as renovating the waiting area for travelers bound for Siaoliouciou Island (小琉球) by boat, he said.
Li also said the agency has established 18 “tourism circles” with each of its National Scenic Area Administrations in collaboration with local tourism bureaus, to improve existing tourist attractions.
The agency aims to map out travel routes to revel in gourmet foods and tourist spots that have local features and cultural significance, he said.
Meanwhile, Li said a plan to alter the ticket prices of Taiwan Railway Corp would be formulated by the end of next month, as the prices have remained the same for 29 years.
“The draft plan would be sent to the Executive Yuan for review next month and is expected to be finalized by the end of this year,” he said.
Relative price change would decrease as the distance lengthens, while short-distance travelers would still access the benefits of the TPass monthly transit card and therefore would not be much affected, Li added.
GREAT POWER COMPETITION: Beijing views its military cooperation with Russia as a means to push back against the joint power of the US and its allies, an expert said A recent Sino-Russian joint air patrol conducted over the waters off Alaska was designed to counter the US military in the Pacific and demonstrated improved interoperability between Beijing’s and Moscow’s forces, a national security expert said. National Defense University associate professor Chen Yu-chen (陳育正) made the comment in an article published on Wednesday on the Web site of the Journal of the Chinese Communist Studies Institute. China and Russia sent four strategic bombers to patrol the waters of the northern Pacific and Bering Strait near Alaska in late June, one month after the two nations sent a combined flotilla of four warships
THE TOUR: Pope Francis has gone on a 12-day visit to Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, East Timor and Singapore. He was also invited to Taiwan The government yesterday welcomed Pope Francis to the Asia-Pacific region and said it would continue extending an invitation for him to visit Taiwan. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs made the remarks as Pope Francis began a 12-day tour of the Asia-Pacific on Monday. He is to travel about 33,000km by air to visit Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, East Timor and Singapore, and would arrive back in Rome on Friday next week. It would be the longest and most challenging trip of Francis’ 11-year papacy. The 87-year-old has had health issues over the past few years and now uses a wheelchair. The ministry said
TAIWANESE INNOVATION: The ‘Seawool’ fabric generates about NT$200m a year, with the bulk of it sourced by clothing brands operating in Europe and the US Growing up on Taiwan’s west coast where mollusk farming is popular, Eddie Wang saw discarded oyster shells transformed from waste to function — a memory that inspired him to create a unique and environmentally friendly fabric called “Seawool.” Wang remembered that residents of his seaside hometown of Yunlin County used discarded oyster shells that littered the streets during the harvest as insulation for their homes. “They burned the shells and painted the residue on the walls. The houses then became warm in the winter and cool in the summer,” the 42-year-old said at his factory in Tainan. “So I was
‘LEADERS’: The report highlighted C.C. Wei’s management at TSMC, Lisa Su’s decisionmaking at AMD and the ‘rock star’ status of Nvidia’s Huang Time magazine on Thursday announced its list of the 100 most influential people in artificial intelligence (AI), which included Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) chairman and chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家), Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) and AMD chair and CEO Lisa Su (蘇姿丰). The list is divided into four categories: Leaders, Innovators, Shapers and Thinkers. Wei and Huang were named in the Leaders category. Other notable figures in the Leaders category included Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Meta CEO and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. Su was listed in the Innovators category. Time highlighted Wei’s
RSS