The Portuguese called it Ilha Formosa, the Beautiful Island, and the Chinese once knew it as Bao Dao, Treasure Island. Indeed, the beauty of Taiwan’s natural landscape, its subtropical climate, and its rich cultural heritage make the island an attractive travel destination, so where are all the tourists and what is being done to encourage their visits?
Balmy islands have always captured the imagination of the tourist; names like Bermuda, Hawaii, and Tahiti have an almost hypnotic charm for those in need of a break from their ordinary lives. Similarly, Taiwan, which is putting new emphasis on the travel industry, has always had the potential to offer travelers dramatic vistas and rich cultural attractions. It is an island of azure coastlines, cloud-rimmed mountain peaks, majestic gorges, plummeting water falls, and varied ecosystems. Rice paddies, cypress forests, and bamboo and banana groves dot the countryside. In addition to the splendid natural setting, aboriginal tribes, Han Chinese immigrants, and foreign colonists have all contributed to Taiwan’s diverse cultural history. “Diversity is Taiwan’s best selling point and a good market niche,” says Su Cherng-tyan, director-general of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications’ (MOTC) Tourism Bureau.
Once overlooked as a potential booster for the island’s economy, tourism is now being actively promoted by the government. Early in 2001, the Executive Yuan pinpointed tourism as an important strategic industry and set the stage for the completion of a revision of the Statute for Tourism Development by the Legislative Yuan, which provided a legal basis for carrying out new tourism policies.
Consequently, the Tourism Bureau drafted the first Tourism Policy White Paper for mapping out the future development of domestic tourism. The plan calls for the creation of sustainable tourism content that employs aspects of Taiwan’s diverse culture and ecology. The plan also calls for measures to ensure that international tourists can get access to the country’s scenic spots and cultural attractions, including plans to offer better accommodations, transportation, and even souvenirs that reflect Taiwan’s uniqueness. To capitalize on the one aspect of Taiwan that has always been well suited to the tourism industry--the natural friendliness of the people of Taiwan--the Tourism Bureau has chosen as a slogan for its new initiatives, “Touch your heart, Taiwan.”
One problem that the government has addressed is the once-cumbersome task of applying for a tourist visa. Visa regulations have now been loosened, allowing citizens of 31 countries to enter Taiwan without a visa for stays of up to 30 days. Many foreign nationals can also qualify for a 30-day landing visa upon arrival.
These changes, combined with the concerted efforts of the domestic tourism industry and increases in international flights to Taiwan, have contributed to significant improvement in the number of foreign visitors over the past few years. According to tallies released by the Tourism Bureau, overseas arrivals including visits for business and tourism in 2002 reached 2.72 million, an increase of 4.18 percent from the previous year. The Japanese were the most frequent visitors to the island, followed by people from Hong Kong and the United States. And based on the bureau’s biennial survey, overall tourism revenues in 2001 were NT$376.7 billion (US$10.9 billion), accounting for 3.9 percent of the gross domestic product, an increase over the 1999 figure of 3.4 percent. The statistics indicate that tourism, then, is becoming a more important part of the nation’s economy.
So just what is drawing people to Taiwan? According to a poll recently released by the Tourism Bureau of visitors to Taiwan in 2001, up to 58 percent of the respondents said cuisine was the number one reason for their choice of Taiwan. They were impressed to find not only a variety of Western restaurants and delicious Taiwanese cuisine, but also delicacies from virtually every province in China. Scenic attractions followed food on the list, with 44 percent of respondents citing sightseeing as their prime reason for coming to Taiwan, while the convenience of the island’s location registered 24 percent of those polled, and 20 percent named the historical and cultural heritage of the country as the chief attraction.
The same survey showed that Taroko Gorge National Park in eastern Taiwan was the most popular site for foreign tourists, followed by the National Palace Museum in suburban Taipei, Mount Ali in south-central Taiwan, Window on China in northern Taiwan--an exhibition of miniature versions of such places as the Great Wall and Beijing’s Forbidden City--and Sun Moon Lake in central Taiwan.
The popularity of these scattered attractions was good news for local travel agents, who try to get tourists to their destinations. Johnson Tseng, chairman of the Taiwan Travel Agent Association, points out that compared with other regional tourist destinations like Hong Kong and Singapore, Taiwan commands greater potential in developing tourism, given its superior natural landscape, and cultural and historic heritage. But Tseng also notes that the island’s tourist facilities, accommodations in particular, are inadequate at some of these scenic sites. Tourist hotels and guesthouses on Mount Ali, for example, can accommodate a total of only 700 visitors at one time. Tseng suggests that the government provide international conglomerates with incentives to encourage them to participate in the construction of tourism facilities.
Tseng also indicates that travel agents are hoping for changes in relations with regional governments to ease restrictions on the flow of people coming to Taiwan. He points out that tourism from South Korea and China could help the industry tremendously. And he believes that efforts should be launched to push more aggressively for the opening of direct transportation links with China and South Korea. Before Taiwan severed diplomatic ties and then direct transportation with South Korea in 1992, around 200,000 Koreans came to Taiwan each year for sightseeing, but the number dropped to about 80,000 afterward. The resumption of direct transportation is projected to win back a considerable number of Korean visitors, he adds.
Similarly, Tseng argues that if the two sides of the Taiwan Strait can reach a consensus on the promotion of tourism exchanges and direct transportation, then the island should see a substantial influx of tourists from the mainland. Of the more than 10 million visitors a year to Hong Kong, half of them are reportedly mainland Chinese, he notes.
Elton See Tan, chairman of the Taipei-based Tourism Society of the Republic of China, also believes mainland China and South Korea could be among Taiwan’s major sources of tourists in the coming years if direct transportation services are established. Like Tseng, Tan urges the government to further encourage leading international business groups to invest in the development of world-class tourist hotels, like those in Las Vegas, or large amusement parks like Disneyland.
On the other hand, Tan thinks the government can participate more actively in the various large-scale international travel exhibitions to promote Taiwan’s visibility abroad. By doing so, Taiwan’s tourism representatives can engage in dialogue with members of the tourism industry from the world over and find creative ways to improve tourism at home. He asserts that this is a low-cost but effective approach.
At the same time, Taiwan could organize more exhibitions and festivals of different kinds at home while striving for the right to host international events such as the Asian Games in a bid to lure more visitors. Tan hopes that investors planning to build new facilities in Taiwan will keep these possibilities in mind, and include in their new projects facilities such as amusement grounds, golf courses, musical halls, sports stadiums, and family-orientated entertainment that can be used to make Taiwan a better host country for large events.
Despite the still largely untapped potential of the island, many in the industry think that recent changes are a good step forward. Samuel Peng, chairman of the Taipei Promotion Center of Domestic Tourism, for one, says the government’s development and promotion of domestic tourism have been a great help to the industry. He points out that the government’s emphasis on building up certain popular sites has made it easier for travel agents to promote them. For instance, the government has designated six national parks and 11 national scenic areas for specialized planning, management, conservation, and maintenance. And the Tourism Bureau has been moving to strengthen the international awareness of Taiwan’s cultural characteristics by helping local governments organize annual large-scale festivals.
Peng asserts that through the joint efforts of the government and the tourism industry, the quality of domestic tourism has been constantly improving. Established in late 1997, Peng’s center now includes some 80 local travel agencies and associations that participate in joint promotions of domestic tourism by providing standardized tour packages. The participating agencies usually offer through special phone lines or websites 20 to 30 different routes covering major scenic sites and festivals in Taiwan proper and its outlying islands catered for different seasons. Moreover, to meet the changing needs of tourists, they now place greater emphasis on ecological, cultural, humanistic, and historic features in their travel packages, and many of the tours include explanations by well-trained guides.
One problem that the government and private sector are still grappling with, Peng points out, is the drastic difference between peak and off-peak times. “Major hotels at tourist sites are often fully booked on weekends,” he notes. “But during weekdays, demand is rather soft. The mere two-day business opportunities have caused difficulties for most operators. That’s also one of the reasons why hotel accommodations here are expensive.”
Darren Lin, manager of the Supreme General Travel Service, points out that the government has been using some creative ways to keep local tourists at home. Civil servants, for example, can use a government subsidy of NT$16,000 (US$460) to travel within the island during their vacation time. This measure, Lin adds, is expected to give the domestic tourism industry a shot in the arm by generating NT$5 billion ($US145 million) worth of business opportunities and helping to reduce the uneven business demand between weekdays and weekends.
Although Lin is encouraged by the government’s new initiatives, he points out that responsibility for tourism-related affairs is still scattered throughout the government. The MOTC, the Council of Agriculture, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Economic Affairs, the Ministry of the Interior, and state-owned enterprises all have some role in the industry, he notes. He hopes that tourism affairs can be centralized to create more effective coordination and administration.
The government for its part is certainly open to suggestions. It has placed the promotion of tourism at the top of its agenda in recent years. In May 2002, for example, the Executive Yuan proposed the Challenge 2008 National Development Plan that specifically called for an effort to raise the number of tourists visiting Taiwan from the current figure of 1 million a year to over 2 million within the next six years. To reach that goal, five objectives have been outlined. Through the new objectives the government hopes to integrate and reinforce existing travel packages in the national scenic areas; develop new travel packages and scenic areas; establish thorough travel service networks that comprehensively integrate transportation, information, and hotel accommodation; promote international marketing; and encourage a good environment for meetings, conventions, and exhibitions.
In response, the Tourism Bureau is promoting travel to five distinct areas on the island: the northern coastline; central Taiwan’s Sun Moon Lake; Mount Ali, a little farther south; the Hualien-Taitung coastal corridor in the east; and the Hengchun peninsula at the southernmost tip of the island.
According to Tourism Bureau chief Su Cherng-tyan, relevant government agencies have set up a joint task force to carry out the planned objectives step by step and help local hotel and restaurant operators enhance their services and facilities by providing consultations and low-interest loans. “To maximize effectiveness, our current tourism development plan is focused on client orientation and target management in the structure of travel packages,” he explains. “We’ll concentrate our efforts on the main markets and utilize various marketing methods for visitors of different nationalities and ages.”
In addition to visitors from Japan, Hong Kong, and the United States, the bureau is also targeting tourists from Malaysia, Singapore, and South Korea by teaming up with the private sector to organize promotional activities in those markets. The bureau will also continue pushing for the further opening of Taiwan to visitors from China and promoting other tourism-related projects with an earmarked budget of NT$700 million (US$20 million) to improve Taiwan’s viability as a travel destination.
Given the efforts of the government and the private sector, an increasing number of foreign and domestic travelers should soon be discovering the natural and cultural treasures of Taiwan, a place that might one day also be known as an island getaway.