The governments of these countries are interested in tourism for several reasons. Tourism is a valuable medium in the promotion of international understanding. There is a Chinese proverb, "Seeing once is better than hearing a hundred times." What a tourist actually sees is more convincing than stories he hears and books he reads. Therefore tourism is a very effective tool in international publicity. In contrast, the countries behind the Iron Curtain do not welcome tourists. They do not wish outsiders to know their real conditions. They can even less afford to allow their own people to travel abroad and see the outside world. That is why in the countries behind the Iron Curtain, tourism is discouraged, restricted and in many areas, even banned altogether.
Tourism is also a good way to earn foreign exchange. It is thus called "invisible export," and is good for the national economy in the same sense as the earning of foreign exchange through export trade. Besides, every dollar directly gained from tourists has the effect of generating three to four dollars in gross national income. In many countries, tourism income has become one of the top items of national income.
However, tourism industry can rarely be built on a foundation dependent on foreign tourists alone. It must be based on the travel of the masses. In other words, domestic travel is actually the bread-and-butter of the tourist industry, while foreign tourists provide the more profitable and attractive incentives to tourism investment.
With the introduction of jet planes to the commercial airlines, it is possible for many more people to travel. Although today the North Atlantic line is still the most traveled route, many tourists have already seen enough of the old Continent, and begun to look for other parts of the world to "conquer." Very soon more and more tourists are visiting the Pacific area. In the Far East, the two biggest tourist favorites are Japan and Hongkong. Many tourists make these two places a "must" when they visit this part of the world.
Located midway between these two tourist centers, Taiwan is in an advantageous position to attract the tourists for a stopover on their way from Japan to Hongkong, or vice versa. This is particularly true in regard to air passengers. They come in relatively small groups, each planeload numbers anywhere from ten or twenty up to nearly a hundred, and make a short stay on the island. There are, of course, other tourists who prefer the more leisurely and luxurious manner of traveling by a big ocean liner. These sea voyagers usually book a packaged tour with everything included. They arrive by the shipload numbering from several hundred to over a thousand at a time. Guided tours for a day or two are prearranged, and they return to the ship after a busy day of sightseeing.
The above covers the general tourism picture for the present. Actually the impact of tourism promotion was felt here several years ago. In 1956, businessmen directly or indirectly concerned with tourist trade, including airlines, traveling agencies, hotels, restaurants and many interested individuals organized the Taiwan Visitors Association (TVA) with the promotion of tourism as its objective. In the same year, the Provincial Government also established the Taiwan Tourism Council (TTC). These two organizations have cooperated closely and made some success. In 1960, the Tourism Council of the Ministry of Communications was established as a policy-making and overall coordination body. Membership on the Council includes representatives of all government agencies concerned. Through this wider basis of representation, effective measures have been taken to accelerate tourism development in free China.
One of the first steps taken in tourism promotion is the simplification of entry procedures and the streamlining of frontier formalities. Through the cooperation of several government departments concerned, the visa requirement for a tourist intending to stay for a period of less than 72 hours has been eliminated. This visa exemption ruling has greatly facilitated the entry of those tourists who just wanted to "take a look" on the spur of the moment. The result can be best indicated by statistics. During the first half of 1961 the number of visitors reached a record of more then 19,000 persons, of which 7,200 entered under the "visa-free" provision. This represents an increase of nearly 50 per cent in comparison with the same period of 1960. It is interesting to note that many businessmen who took the opportunity to drop by have found good business prospects and investments here.
As to the improvement of standing operation procedures of passport inspection and customs clearance, on-the-spot checks are made regularly, and any inconveniences or delays are recorded and brought up for review at the meetings of the Tourism Council. Corrective measures are then suggested and tried out. Through gradual improvements, the average time required for a tourist to go through the entry formalities has been reduced from more than half an hour to around ten minutes. Although the total elimination of frontier formalities cannot be achieved unless it is done on a worldwide basis, the Tourism Council is still trying in every possible way to further simplify and streamline these procedures.
In order to attract more tourists to visit Taiwan, the Tourism Council is sponsoring a number of surveying and improvement planning projects, ranging from the construction or improvement of access roads to the scenic spots to the publishing of tourist guide books. Several projects including the improvement of some scenic spots in Taipei and its environs and the aerophotographic surveying of the Yangmingshan area with a view to mapping out a national park for that area are already under way.
The Chinese culinery art is world famous. No tourist visiting Taiwan should miss the opportunity to sample some of the famous Chinese dishes. Since there are hundreds of restaurants in Taipei and not everyone of them good and reliable, a survey of the more famous restaurants was conducted under the sponsorship of the Tourism Council. The survey was made by Prof. Lucy Wu, head of the Department of Home Economics of the Taiwan Normal University, and a group of American ladies. In their report, detailed conditions of those restaurants and suggestions for improvement were given. There were also a number of dishes suggested for tourists. As the making of a la carte selection in a Chinese restaurant is often a trying and frustrating job, this report is very helpful to tourists.
The survey of festivals has already been made by the TVA and a pamphlet has been published. It outlines the historical backgrounds or origins and the general features of many festivals and what people usually do on these occasions. Among the more interesting ones are the Dragon Boat Festival and the Lantern Festival which attract spectators by the thousands. Some aborigine rituals and festivals are also included.
The Chinese opera, a dramatic performance presenting a story by means of acting with singing and dancing, has been very popular among Chinese everywhere. But due to the language barrier it is very difficult for foreigners to understand. Through arrangements of the Tourism Council with several leading authorities, nine typical Chinese operas have been selected and modified to cater for foreigners' enjoyment. Pamphlets with explanations and descriptions of the individual stories and acts of these nine operas are available. The first performance of these improved versions will be staged soon and interested parties will be invited to see them and offer their suggestions for further improvements.
Hotel accommodation is another vital item to the tourist trade. Although there are some excellent hotels in Taipei, the total number of rooms is still very limited. At present, there are less than 500 beds available. As an annual total of 100,000 tourists is expected to visit Taiwan in the near future, at least 1,000 beds will be needed to accommodate them. To attract investment in this connection, the Government has enacted the "Statute for Encouragement of Investment" under which tourist hotels are now entitled to a five-year tax exemption.
The inauguration of the Mandarin Jet service by free China's flag carrier CAT marks another milestone in the development of tourism in Taiwan. With this new Convair 880-M, the fastest of all commercial aircraft produced to date, the flying time between Tokyo and Taipei is reduced to two and a half hours, and that from Hongkong to Taipei to only one hour. More and more air passengers are expected to come to visit Taiwan during their tour of this part of the world.
To meet the challenge of jet age travel, the Government has decided to rebulid the international air terminal in Taipei. The new terminal building will have a floor space equivalent to six times that of the existing building. It is expected that construction will start early in 1962 and be completed in 1963.
All these efforts are directed to make Taiwan a tourist attraction. As the year 1961 has been designated as the "Visit the Orient See the Republic of China Year", and both the general public and the business circles directly and indirectly concerned with the tourist trade have responded enthusiastically to this call, greater success will be achieved in the foreseeable future.