Taiwan Today

The government and people of Taiwan are finding new ways to share their beautiful island with guests from all over the world.

In October 2011, internationally renowned travel guide publisher Lonely Planet chose Taiwan as one of the world’s top 10 countries for travel in 2012. Among other recommendations, Lonely Planet suggested that Taiwan can best be seen on two wheels, thanks to the thousands of kilometers of bicycle trails and cycling-friendly infrastructure developed in recent years with “surprising enthusiasm, vision and funding.” The company goes on to urge tourists to make time for local museums, folk culture and cuisine, in addition to Taiwan’s “jaw-dropping” landscape, which was revealed to the world as early as the 16th century when the Portuguese first sailed by these shores. Impressed by the beauty of the verdant mountains and huge sea cliffs they saw along the island’s coast, the Portuguese named the place Ilha Formosa, or “beautiful island.”

“We have the scenery, the culture, the cuisine and lots of other things that are unique to Taiwan to offer,” says David W.J. Hsieh (謝謂君), director-general of the Tourism Bureau under the Ministry of Transportation and Communications. “And as many who’ve visited Taiwan have pointed out, it’s the hospitality and friendliness on top of all those attractions that really touches their heart and makes them want to visit again.”

For a very long time, however, residents of the beautiful island failed to take full advantage of Taiwan’s tourism resources or local hospitality in building much of a tourism industry, as higher priorities were placed on the pursuit of economic success through trade and industry. It was not until the 1980s that Taiwan started to promote domestic tourism, and not until the turn of the new century that efforts to develop international tourism started in earnest.

By 2009, however, tourism had been designated one of the country’s six emerging industries for development and the Tourism Bureau mapped out a master plan for the industry dubbed Project Vanguard for Excellence in Tourism. “The goal of the project is to create both quantity and quality in the tourism industry, and turn Taiwan into an important tourist destination,” Hsieh says. The director-general notes that Taiwan is situated in a key position in the Asia-Pacific region, and says that thanks to the establishment of new air links in recent years, the country can also play the role of a regional tourism hub. The government has approved investment of NT$30 billion (US$1 billion) in developing Taiwan’s tourism industry from 2010 through this year.

One important goal of Project Vanguard was to re-examine tourism resources in different parts of the country and designate different themes for northern, central, southern and eastern Taiwan and its outlying islands. Southern Taiwan, for example, has been given the theme of Historical Taiwan, with visitors directed to historical city sites, religious festivals, and traditional folk culture and aboriginal culture sites. In eastern Taiwan, the theme is Leisurely Living Taiwan, with an emphasis on extensive bicycle paths, as well as recreational farming, hot springs and ecotourism. There is also a wide variety of package tours on offer, many of which cater to particular interests or schedules, such as a five-day ’round-island railway tour, a two-day culinary tour of Taichung, central Taiwan, or a two-day tour of aboriginal villages in eastern Taiwan.

In order to make traveling easier, especially for those who rely on public transportation, the Tourism Bureau worked with local governments to initiate the Taiwan Tourist Shuttle service in 2010. The buses run between train stations and major attractions in the region and are staffed by local tour guides who speak English or Japanese and are able to offer information about specific destinations and Taiwan as a whole. There are 22 shuttle routes, which served 760,000 tourists in their first year of operation and 1.2 million visitors in 2011.

Taking Two Wheels

Tourists who take Lonely Planet’s advice and choose to see Taiwan on bicycle also have a number of options. The government initiated the Bicycle Network Path Construction Plan in 2009 to create an integrated network of quality bicycle paths at various locations. Cyclists who want a challenge can hit one of the mountain or cross-island routes, while those who prefer to take it easy can stick to the quiet roads of Taiwan’s east coast. Currently, there are nearly 4,000 kilometers of bicycle paths across the country. While most of the riders on these trails are locals, Taiwan has already drawn international attention by holding large cycling events in recent years. In 2012, CNNGo.com, the travel website of television broadcasting network CNN, chose the route around Sun Moon Lake in Nantou County, central Taiwan, for example, as one of the world’s top 10 cycling paths and described it as a ride that will “take your breath away.”

Taiwan has been actively promoting itself in the international market in other ways, such as by sending representatives to tourism festivals, producing promotional films and investing in advertising worldwide. “We want to market Taiwan through stories, as every scenic spot has a fascinating tale,” Hsieh says. “Because they connect the land with the people, their heritage and culture, stories are often more appealing to tourists than other marketing strategies.”

In addition to targeting tourists from well established markets like Japan and Hong Kong, Taiwan has begun pursuing visitors from among the new middle classes in other Asian countries such as Thailand, Indonesia and India, as well as countries in the Middle East. In recognition of the potential market in Muslim countries, for example, 21 international hotels in Taiwan have obtained Halal certification, a standard that ensures food and drink has been prepared in accordance with the religious requirements of Muslim guests. Meanwhile, the so-called MICE group—visitors who come to Taiwan for meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions—is another valued customer base. A Tourism Bureau survey released in 2012 showed that aside from attending such events in Taiwan, 53 percent of those who visited for business and 87 percent of those who visited for conferences or exhibitions also engaged in tourism activities.

The various measures taken to boost the industry seem to be working well, as the number of international tourists has been increasing rapidly, from 3.8 million in 2008 to more than 6 million in 2011. Tourist numbers from Asian countries and territories like Japan, South Korea and Hong Kong have grown steadily, but the biggest increases in recent years can be attributed to better cross-strait relations. As Taiwan has opened up to tourism from mainland China—beginning with tour groups from July 2008 and extending to individual travelers from certain cities in mainland China from July 2011—the number of mainland Chinese tourists has grown from 329,000 in 2008 to 1.78 million in 2011. There has also been a small increase in the number of European tourists, as arrivals have risen between 3 and 5 percent in the past three years, a figure Hsieh says is quite significant considering the economy there. If the tourism industry is able to meet its goal of attracting more than 10 million foreign tourists annually by 2016, the sector anticipates gaining business opportunities worth more than NT$470 billion (US$15.7 billion) and the creation of 200,000 jobs within the next three years. “Growth in tourist numbers translates to growth in business and jobs,” says Yao Ta-kuang (姚大光), chairman of the Travel Agent Association of ROC, Taiwan. “It encourages investors to put in money, which facilitates further development of the industry.” Novotel, Crown Plaza, W Hotels and several other international hotel chains, for example, are among the big names to join the local market in recent years.

Numbers Rising

In fact, tourist numbers have grown much faster than the government anticipated. The Tourism Bureau estimated that the number of inbound tourists would grow 10 percent in 2012, but figures were already up 24 percent by September that year.

The rapid increases bring up the question of whether Taiwan has the capacity to give such large numbers of tourists a quality experience. One common problem at many of the famous scenic spots is crowding during weekends and holidays, with the situation becoming acute since the sharp increase in the number of visitors from mainland China. The reason is that most mainland Chinese, even those who are eligible to visit individually, still choose to visit in large tour groups and the groups’ itineraries are pretty much the same, according to tour guide Eric Chang (張家棟). Currently there are about 25 group travelers for every two individual tourists, he says. Visits to “hot spots” are usually scheduled for weekdays to prevent crowding, but given that the must-see destinations are the same, it is unavoidable that at least a couple of groups will be at the same site at any given time. Making matters worse is that the typical eight-to-10-day trips try to cover as many places as possible, leaving the groups little time to really appreciate the places they visit. “You finally get to the destination after a long bus ride, then wait in line to use the restroom, take a picture or two and it’s time to hop on the bus for the next destination,” Chang says. “That’s most mainland Chinese groups’ experience here and that’s not quality tourism.”

There have been suggestions that some kind of crowd management measures, such as charging admission fees for the most popular spots, should be put into place as a way to improve the tourism experience. “It’s only fair that visitors pay for what they use, and the income could be used to enhance the quality of the sites,” Yao says. The idea might be difficult to put into practice, however, as most travel agencies reduce costs by arranging itineraries for mainland Chinese groups that include mostly free sites. They send groups to view Sun Moon Lake, which is free, for example, but rarely to the Formosan Aboriginal Culture Village, which is only a few minutes’ away via a gondola ride, but charges an admission fee of NT$700 (US$23).

Controlled Development

Then again, increasing tourism infrastructure to meet domestic and international demands has raised concerns about the impact on Taiwan’s natural environment. Lee Su-hsin (李素馨), a professor in the Department of Geography at National Taiwan Normal University in Taipei, notes that while capable of offering rich tourism resources, Taiwan is ecologically sensitive and not an appropriate place for large-scale development. “Development of the natural environment should be controlled before the damage becomes irreversible,” Lee says, adding that any response to market needs should take the environment into consideration.

Lee thinks that similar threats exist for local culture, taking the Shida Night Market near her school as an example. The night market started out as a place for community residents and local and foreign students, but as one of the must-see tourist night markets in the city, it has become crowded. “To meet tourist demand, fashion boutiques have replaced bookstores, chain operations have replaced small businesses and higher-priced restaurants and shops targeting tourists have replaced those budget stores for students,” she says. “The place has lost a lot of its cultural and historical feeling and been turned into a commercial district.” Lee’s concern is that the same thing might take place in indigenous villages, Hakka communities or just about any other place if local characteristics continue to be surrendered to the pursuit of the tourist dollar.

Still, a 2011 survey conducted by the Tourism Bureau noted that only 0.2 percent of international tourists found their Taiwan experience unsatisfactory, with the most complaints centered on language barriers, unclear road signs and overcrowding at certain sites. Nevertheless, Hsieh agrees that Taiwan needs to face certain problems of tourism quality, saying that it is an issue the government has already started to work on.

In response to the problem of congestion at popular scenic spots, for example, the Tourism Bureau has begun promoting a number of other attractive destinations. In the past three years, the bureau has announced several “spotlight” destinations including the area around Confucius Temple in Taipei City and the Hengchun Peninsula in southern Taiwan. In 2012, it named Taiwan’s top 10 tourism towns as alternative destinations for tourists along with six communities where agriculture or traditional crafts still play an important role in the local economy. In those communities, tourists can trade work for accommodations and food, while enjoying the local scenery and culture. They can, for instance, help plant rice in Nanao Township in eastern Taiwan’s Yilan County or produce handmade paper in Puli Township, Nantou County. After they leave, tourists can track the progress of their crops online. “Sun Moon Lake might be a must-see for your [first] trip, but one of the little towns will offer a different experience on your next trip,” Hsieh says. “We try to offer more in-depth and tailor-made choices to enhance the tourism experience.”

A major difference of these newly promoted destinations is that they were chosen through grassroots support rather than by government designation. Local governments submitted the applications, which were evaluated and voted on by the general public as well as experts from the private sector and government officials. The contests were heated, as several county magistrates and city mayors actively lobbied for votes and briefed the judging panels. In some ways, the process indicates that tourism is not just an emerging industry as touted by the government, but also one that ordinary residents have recognized can bring economic gain with minimum impact on culture and the environment if done right.

Taiwan’s tourism income grew from 1.2 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2000 to 4.6 percent in 2011. The figure is still far from the world’s average of approximately 10 percent of GDP, but the people on the beautiful island are ready to welcome more of the world with the friendliness and hospitality they are known for.

Write to Jim Hwang at cyhuang03@mofa.gov.tw