Taiwan Today

Taiwan tourism came of age in 1967 with more than a quarter of a million visitors. So it was appropriate that early 1968 should have brought Taipei the biggest tourism meeting ever held in the Far East. It was the 17th annual conference of the Pacific Area Travel Association, which convened from February 12 through 16. Workshops were held Febru­ary 8 and 9. Many of the nearly 800 members and dependents took sightseeing trips outside the Taipei area the week-end of February 10-11.

President Chiang Kai-shek sent this greeting to the conference: "It is a great pleasure for me to ex­tend the warmest of welcomes on behalf of the Gov­ernment of the Republic of China and the Chinese people to the delegates…I am confident that the promotion of tourism will strengthen international under­standing and friendship, and will contribute to further assuring world peace and prosperity. The Republic of China has ceaselessly endeavored to provide for the economic well-being and peaceful life of its people as a foundation for the development of tourism enter­prises. I am confident that, through your concerted efforts, you will contribute greatly to the interflow of culture and the well-being of the people of the world."

Vice President C.K. Yen was the keynote speaker at the February 12 opening of the conference. Himself one of the Republic of China's most widely traveled citizens, the Vice President and Prime Minister said:

"Tourism has long been recognized as an effec­tive means to bring about economic well-being in those places where natural endowment is beautiful scenery more than material resources, where national heritages tend to stimulate cultural excellence more than business proficiency, and where the people's inclination is to serve and to satisfy more than to produce and to profit. In the last decade or so, tourism has become such an increasingly important industry - with annual volume in terms of billions of dollars - that no country can afford to ignore it.

"The impetus of tourism is a very healthy one. To begin with, the people of the developed countries are more inclined and better provided to travel than the people of the developing countries. As a result, the countries likely to benefit more from international tourism are, in a general way, the ones which are more in need of income from travel industries. It clearly shows that international tourism has a built-in stabiliz­ing factor in achieving a better equilibrium between exertion and enjoyment. Those who work harder are encouraged to relax by traveling, and those in need of more work are provided with opportunities to serve tourists from abroad.

"Tourism also plays a useful role in leading to comprehensive and meaningful interchange among different cultures. History has repeatedly shown that people who isolate themselves from outside influences become either suspicious of the inherent values of for­eign cultures or uncertain of their own heritages or both. If, on the other hand, such barriers between na­tions as created by insularity are to be torn down by travel, two things will happen. First, people will begin to appreciate other cultures and will benefit from learn­ing them. Second, by comparing with others, people will be given an opportunity to take inventory of their own heritages. Such an opportunity will enable them to understand better the true worth as well as the deficiencies of their own inheritance. This can be the first step to invigorate and uplift an otherwise compla­cent civilization.

"The beautiful thing about travel in promoting cultural exchange is therefore its synergistic effect. The net benefit to mankind from melting different cultures in the crucible of international tourism will by far ex­ceed the simple total of their individual merits. I feel strongly that this aspect of tourism deserves our at­tention as much as its contribution to economic performance.

"Even more important is the role of tourism to improve international relations. Xenophobia is always the result of ignorance, prejudice and intolerance, while tourism tends to dissipate these by promoting knowl­edge, understanding and tolerance... Prejudice is worse than ignorance in poisoning goodwill among nations...When one sees for himself what his neigh­bors really are, including their aspirations and frustra­tions, their joys and agonies, which are intrinsically not much different from his own, he will begin to understand them and accept them as his fellowmen. This is a major step toward international understanding and tourism is certainly able to foster it."

Vice President Yen pointed out that Communist countries deny freedom of travel. "Despotism and slavery must be removed," he said, "because only de­mocratic and free societies will accept and encourage tourism. Let us look at the totalitarian regime of the Chinese Communists. Not only does it prohibit tour­ism, but also it has erected the bamboo curtain in an attempt to stop all intercourse between its enslaved people and the outside world. Therefore in our joint efforts to promote tourism, the Chinese Communists are our common enemy and should be condemned."

In opening the workshops, Communications Min­ister Sun Yuan-suan asked PATA members to com­ment on the Republic of China's efforts to promote tourism. The moderator of the first session was Thomas Martz, San Francisco manager of the National Geographic. Speakers were E. Stuart Sharpe, execu­tive director of the Jamaica Tourist Board, on "The Jamaica Success Story" and Harrison A. Price, president of the Economics Research Associates of Los Angeles, on "Researching the Building of a Great At­traction". Sharpe said Jamaica had been portrayed not a tropical atoll with two palm trees in the middle, but "as a full-fledged nation - a country in which many races thrive in harmony and understanding". Price told of research for the first Disneyland project at Anaheim.

The afternoon moderator was Neville E. Lobb, chief executive of the New Zealand Travel and Holidays Association. A panel discussed "The Value of the Tourist Industry to a Destination Area". Members of the discussion group were Lt. Gen. Chalermchai Charuvastr, director general of the Tourist Organiza­tion of Thailand and second vice president of PATA; Gerard Louis Gilloteaux, manager of the Department of Promotion and Publicity of the Tahiti Tourist De­velopment Board; and Robert J. Sullivan, general manager of the San Francisco Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Second day workshop activities were devoted to panel discussions of tourist agency activities. Kent Harris, the president of Travelworld Inc., was the moderator. The morning session theme was "Better Service, More Sales". At the afternoon session, George A. Lyall, director of international operations of Eastern Airlines, called attention to estimates that travel to the Far East will increase 200 per cent by 1970.

From the arrival of the first delegates, attention centered on President Lyndon Johnson's proposed at­tempts to curb American travel outside the Western Hemisphere in order to reduce the outflow of U.S. dollars and gold. Members agreed on the seriousness of the U.S. dollar problem but suggested that plans to tax and discourage tourism would not be efficacious. In a resolution, the 17th conference recommended that:

- The U.S. government and carriers be urged to promote foreign travel to America.

- PATA increase its own efforts to encourage U.S. tourism by peoples of the Pacific area.

The resolution held that the Johnson proposals would be contrary to the right of free travel and sug­gested that they may hurt trade, result in reprisals by other countries and undermine worldwide confidence in the U.S. dollar.

Walter Fei, Republic of China vice minister of communications and PATA president for 1967-68, re­ported to the first session on the association's year of outstanding accomplishments. He pointed to the five­-year marketing program (subsequently adopted at Tai­pei) as a milestone in PATA history. He also men­tioned the open board meeting at New York in October as focusing the attention of more than 500 tourism leaders on PATA. Noting the growth of promotional chapters in Chicago, London, Los Angeles, New York, Paris, Seattle and Toronto, he said that another at Frankfurt is organized and ready for accrediting.

"During these months," he said, "we have also completed the Pacific Survey, a measure of the attitudes of American travelers and non-travelers having similar demographies toward destination areas of the Pacific compared with European destinations." He said that other more sophisticated studies can be· built on this basic piece of research.

A principal speaker the second day was J.B. Connelly, vice president of the Boeing Company, who told of the changes that the Boeing 747 and the SST will bring to world tourism. The 747 is the so-called jumbo jet and the SST is the supersonic transport.

Connelly said: "The Boeing 747 will enter com­mercial airline service in late 1969. By mid-1970 ap­proximately sixty 747 airplanes will be in the service of eleven airlines throughout the world; and, I might add, we expect to see the 747 in operation on transpacific routes in 1970. Over 140 747s have been pur­chased by 26 airlines so far."

He made these other points:

- Because of slightly increased speed, Atlantic flight time will be decreased 30 minutes and Pacific time 45 minutes.

- The 747 will have almost three times the pay­load capability of the 707 but will be able to operate from the same runways. Cabins will permit six abreast first-class seating and nine or ten-abreast seating in the economy section. Seats will be about ten per cent wider than those of present airliners. Average passenger capacity will be 350. Loading and unloading will be through ten two-abreast doors, five on each side of the aircraft.

- Seat-mile operating costs will be reduced about 35 per cent, enabling airlines to cut fares.

- Supersonic jets will come into service about 1975 and will cut long flight times in half.

- Arrival of 350 passengers on one aircraft is going to pose new and difficult problems at internation­al airports. The requirement for hotel space will be doubled by 1980.

Ambassador Howard P. Jones, the chancellor of the East-West Center at the University of Hawaii, spoke on "Make the E in Travel Stand for Education".

"Today, through the services you supply," he said, "millions are emerging, overcoming their narrowness, and learning how wrong it is to feel that no one is the equal of one's self.

"Today, man is able to see what lies beyond the bank of the river in which each of us is born and raised. Glimpsing the Great Ocean which the human race inhabits, man speaks of great things. Of human under­standing. Of better relationships among nations. Of the expansion of human horizons through education and travel. Of peace on earth and goodwill to men."

Travel, said the former U.S. ambassador to In­donesia, has "created a five-sensory supplement to education involving sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch. You have changed men from distant specula­tors on the human condition to informed participants in the amelioration of that condition".

In urging that the E in travel stand for Education, he said that youth and not age should have the priority in travel. "Travel belongs to youth," he said. "Ex­posed early to strange cultures and climes, they are in a position throughout their lives to see others less as strangers and more as friends. Hearing foreign tongues spoken, language study thereafter becomes less a chore and more a challenge. Books on geography, history, the social sciences, the humanities, given life, are spurs to knowledge. Education becomes not a burden but wings on which to continue their journey into other cultures."

F. Marvin Plake, the executive director of PATA, made a four-point recommendation. First, he said, the Pacific area must build at least 60,000 new hotel rooms of international standard within the next five or six years to keep up with the airlines' capacity to deliver tourists. Second, the committee representation of PATA should be expanded to include all those who are interested and able. Third, that the board of directors should meet at least twice annually at Pacific sites. Fourth, that PATA begin to shift its efforts to technical assistance in the form of in-depth seminars, especially on a regional has is.

From Chinn Ho, one of Hawaii's principal entrepreneurs and a leader of Chinese ancestry, came counsel about hotel construction and development. "Developing and operating a hotel for profit," he said, "is a calculated real estate venture that requires plan­ning and much imagination. The developer should be knowledgeable not only in real estate and finance but he should promptly recognize at the outset that the operation and maintenance of the finished structure will require the skill and imagination of a professional hotel management team."

Chinn Ho strongly recommended the employment of experienced hotel planners. He said such specialists should be consulted "so that such small matters as the best place to locate the light switch or the telephone jack and for guidance on the design and layout of the public rooms, lobbies, kitchens and dining rooms. This will save you money and will contribute to making your guests' stay comfortable and pleasant. Nothing will irritate a traveler more than having to cross a room to turn on a light. Nothing will irritate a hotel controller more than a switch that turns on too many lights."

The Hawaii entrepreneur told of his develop­ments: The Ilikai Complex has 886 hotel units, 756 apartments, 5 restaurants, 2 nightclubs, 10 shops, a service station, parking for 1,400 cars, convention facilities to scat 1,800 for dinner, direct or indirect employment for 2,250 people and property taxes of US$400,000. Makaha Valley will have 1,800 hotel units, 4,000 apartments and two 18-hole golf courses. He suggested that Asian hotels should stress personalized service and avoid automation.

"In hotel operation," Chinn Ho said, "your re­sponsibility does not end within the boundaries of your property. You must exert influence on governmental agencies to cooperate and render courteous customs and immigration services and other public services to incoming and departing visitors. Participa­tion in all phases of community life is a must so as to obtain community interest in your program."

He said that hotels must strive for excellence and the highest quality.

Takeo Komatsu reported on Japan's plans for Expo 70, the first world's fair ever scheduled in the Eastern Hemisphere. The site will be the Osaka-Kobe­-Kyoto-Nara area. Originally, 3 million visitors were expected. Now the estimate is 40 million, compared with the more than 50 million that saw Expo 67 at Montreal.

Another Japanese, Takeshi Watanabe, the presi­dent of the Asian Development Bank, spoke on the role of tourism in economic development. He said that underdeveloped countries should not shy away from tourism, because the costs are less than in devel­oping some other sectors of the economy and the investment return prompt.

"The tourist industry must be alert to innovation," he said. "Tourism is at least - if not more - competi­tive than other industries due to the volatile nature of its consumers. Since tourists are normally attracted by the most up-to-date conveniences in hotels and in transportation, the rapid adoption of modern technologies is imperative."

From Korean Finance Minister Suh Bong Kyun came a plea to the United States to reconsider barriers to tourism and the suggestion that Asian countries should not attempt retaliation or reprisal. He said that a "chain reaction" would be difficult to control or reverse and would damage the economies of all the countries concerned.

The Pacific region should not be pessimistic about the future of tourism, he continued, saying: "In our individual countries we have probably more of interest, of kaleidoscopic beauty, and of tourist attractions gen­erally than any other part of the world. As our tourist facilities improve, we shall be able to offer foreign visitors almost anything they might desire for their comfort and interest on a scale and quality equal or perhaps even superior to any other area in the world."

Minister Suh urged more effective and positive tourism cooperation among Pacific countries. He said he was not referring to verbal cooperation but to practi­cal and concrete matters affecting economic develop­ment.

PATA adopted a five-year marketing program with a budget of US$1,976,000. Included will be:

- Increased advertising, promotion and publicity for Pacific area tourism.

- Provision of adequate funds for research.

Next year's PATA conference will be held at Bangkok. That had been decided in advance of the Taipei meeting. The competition for the 1970 con­ference, which will be the 19th, was between New Zea­land and the Philippines. The Philippines withdrawal at the last minute assured the selection of New Zealand for the conference and Tahiti for the workshop. The 20th conference in 1971 will go to Manila.

At the final session, the outgoing president, Walter Fei, vice minister of communications of the Republic of China, introduced the new presiding officer, Lt. Gen. Chalermchai Charuvastr, the chief of Thai tour­ism. Awards were presented to the best tourism films. to winners in the PAT A golf tournament and to par­ticipants in the Ladies Workshop. Named to the board of directors were Michael Alford, John C. Carrodus, Rudy Choi, George Milne, Richard Joseph, Ben. Y.c. Chow, Anthony F. Foster, Henry Jonsen, Sidney A. Moore, Hugh B. Main, J.G. O'Donnell, Jean Pigerau, Osman Shiru, Y. Takagi and George M. Turner.

PATA members and their dependents toured Tai­wan before the conference, during the two days between the workshops and the conference proper, and after final adjournment. Despite persistent rain through the entire conference period, the response was over­whelmingly favorable. Those who know tourism best predicted further rapid growth for Taiwan tourism, which for the last several years has boasted the highest percentage increase in the Pacific region. For 1967, Taiwan had 253,248 visitors who are estimated to have spent about US$28 million. These figures do not include some 50,000 American servicemen, most of whom came from South Vietnam on R&R leaves. The nationality breakdown was 198,218 foreigners and 55,030 overseas Chinese. Japanese led the list of for­eigners with 72,067, followed by Americans at 71,044. The increase over 1966 was 70,300 or 38 per cent.

These were some of the findings, adversely and favorably critical, of the PATA people:

- Some of Taipei's hotels are not as well-planned and as carefully maintained as they should be, and some service is substandard.

- Chinese hospitality ranks near the top of the Pacific list. The people are friendly and helpful.

- Scenic attractions are excellent but those outside Taipei are relatively inaccessible to the tourist and hotel facilities are inadequate.

- Taipei transportation is a tourist problem. Buses are too crowded and the quality of taxi driving is poor and in some cases downright frightening.

- Many Taiwan shops display signs in English as well as Chinese but no streets and few buildings are identified in English. Bilingual street signs would make it much easier for the tourist to get around and would encourage more away-from-the-hotel exploration.

- Chinese food is good but not universally so and Western food is indifferent or poor. Waiters and wait­resses are not as well trained as they should be.

- As a whole, Taipei could stand increased em­phasis on cleanliness.

- No topnotch tourism booklet and map is available. Information is hard to come by and not always reliable.

- More Chinese cultural attractions are required. The National Palace Museum is a great asset but Taipei needs regular performances of Chinese drama, music, and dance with tickets readily available through hotels.

Authorities on tourism pointed out that the adverse criticisms are not serious because all of Tai­wan's faults can be remedied. No one can detract from Taiwan's natural beauty, its quality of exotic Chinese­ness and the warmth of its people. However, in the in­creasingly competitive world of tourism, the island will have to improve in order to compete with other areas that have fewer natural advantages but do more with them.

Taiwan's tourism industry considered that the PATA meeting was the greatest step forward in its history. Heretofore the island's tourism growth has been largely the result of happy geographic location on the direct route between Japan and Hongkong. A stopover costs nothing in money and the only time re­quired is that actually spent in tourism - that is, there is no additional expenditure of time for travel. But tourism promotion has been negligible. The PATA meeting, say members of the industry, has awakened the government, travel agencies, hotels, restaurants and places of entertainment to the immense potential and the rich tourism harvest that lies in store for those who reach out for it.