Commenting on the “sameness” of domestic tourism, Tourism Administration Director-General Chen Yu-hsiu (陳玉秀) said that it is imperative for locations to differentiate themselves from other areas.
In an interview with the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper) published yesterday, Chen said that if an identical event could be held in two locations, it means the event is not special.
Some effort must be made to make the event different, she said.
Photo: Huang Yun-hsuan, Taipei Times
Penghu, Kinmen and Lienchiang counties highlight their roles in the 823 Artillery Battle to attract tourists, but they have distinct cultural backgrounds that they could use to differentiate their marketing strategies from each other, she said.
Chen also cited as an example foreign tourist sites, such as the diving scene in Silfra, Iceland, and the East African Rift, adding that Taiwan must have a greater understanding of its own environment before seeking to emulate international tourist sites.
Taiwanese domestic tourism lacks the motivation for “rediscovery,” Chen said, adding that since assuming office, she had been visiting different places nonstop.
Identifying herself as a “doer,” Chen said she understood that putting thoughts into action with the current system posed a bother to civil servants, as her questions could be misconstrued to be actual policy.
She also said she told agency personnel that “you can talk about anything,” citing the importance of employees working as a team.
Taiwan’s tourist scene is varied; it has gastronomic, biking, jogging, running tours and hiking tours, but such diversity leads to fragmented jurisdictions, making it difficult for the Tourism Administration to do what it does best — promote the nation abroad and attract foreign visitors, Chen said.
She attributed the difficulty of promoting Taiwan tourism abroad to the fact that most routes have more than one competent authority, citing as an example biking tours, which fall under the joint jurisdiction of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications, and local governments.
Taiwan’s mountain and seaside activities, while greatly attractive to Westerners, lack a comprehensive system to guarantee safety, Chen said.
While the transportation ministry has repeatedly said that the number of visitors is not the only standard to measure the success of tourism policies, an alternative standard would be hard to find in the short term, she said.
The agency could use tourists’ average expenditure or specific programs to gauge the efficacy of policies, Chen said.
She cited the “Peaks and Summits Along the Tropic of Cancer” project as an example, saying that as the project has a specific goal, it could better identify key factors contributing to or detracting from its success.
Commenting on a personnel shortage in the hospitality sector, Chen said that the government has considered hiring people from other countries, but must balance the policy against other factors, such as US tariffs, Taiwan’s wage system and ensuring availability in the domestic labor market.
Some businesses are attempting to attract retirees by offering jobs with flexible work hours, she said.
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