Nearly 800 Indian tourists are to arrive this week on an incentive tour organized by Indian company Asian Painted Ltd, making it the largest tour group from the South Asian nation to visit since the COVID-19 pandemic.
The travelers are scheduled to arrive in six batches from Sunday to Feb. 25 for five-day tours, the Tourism Administration said yesterday.
The tour would take the travelers, most of whom are visiting Taiwan for the first time, to several tourist sites in Taipei and Yilan County, including tea houses in Taipei’s Maokong (貓空), Dadaocheng (大稻埕) and Ximending (西門町) areas. They would also visit Taipei 101, Taipei Zoo and a beach in Yilan County’s Dongao (東澳), the agency said.
Photo: Tsai Yun-jung, Taipei Times
The agency estimated that the group could create at least NT$30 million (US$912,936) in economic benefits, adding that their visit is an indicator of significant progress in Taiwan’s tourism market.
India has a high demographic dividend, as it has the world’s largest population, the agency said.
Its rising number of nouveau riche and business travelers, coupled with the surge in outbound travel after the pandemic, makes the South Asian nation the most valuable tourism market with a huge growth potential, it said. Last year, India recorded about 30 million outbound visits.
To facilitate the growth of Indian tourists, the agency established a Taiwan Tourism Information Center in Mumbai in February last year, which has been seeking partnerships with travel agencies, and inviting news media and Internet celebrities to visit Taiwan, it said.
Mumbai-based Axplore Travelplus, the travel agency organizing the incentive tour, came to scout potential travel routes in June last year, the agency said.
Axplore Travelplus said at the time that Taiwan could be an ideal destination for Indian tourists.
The agency has also established Taiwan tourism centers in Jakarta, Paris, Vancouver and Manila last year as part of its plan to expand sources for the inbound tourism market, Tourism Administration Director-General Chou Yung-hui (周永暉) said.
“We are to upgrade the Taiwan Tourism Information Center in Mumbai into a branch office of the Tourism Administration before the end of this year, which would be entrusted with the task of exploring the potential of travelers who come to Taiwan for meetings, conferences, exhibitions and incentive tours in the short term. In the long run, we would target the general public in India as a potential source of inbound tourists,” he said.
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
A magnitude 4.1 earthquake struck eastern Taiwan's Hualien County at 2:23pm today, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA). The epicenter of the temblor was 5.4 kilometers northeast of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 34.9 km, according to the CWA. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was the highest in Hualien County, where it measured 2 on Taiwan's 7-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 1 in Yilan county, Taichung, Nantou County, Changhua County and Yunlin County, the CWA said. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
‘WORSE THAN COMMUNISTS’: President William Lai has cracked down on his political enemies and has attempted to exterminate all opposition forces, the chairman said The legislature would motion for a presidential recall after May 20, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday at a protest themed “against green communists and dictatorship” in Taipei. Taiwan is supposed to be a peaceful homeland where people are united, but President William Lai (賴清德) has been polarizing and tearing apart society since his inauguration, Chu said. Lai must show his commitment to his job, otherwise a referendum could be initiated to recall him, he said. Democracy means the rule of the people, not the rule of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), but Lai has failed to fulfill his
RSS