Wangpin Climbs Everest, Tech Elite Fulfill American Dream to Win Top Prize in New Top 100 Travelers

By MOOK Scenic Spots Family Travel Life Network, reported by Chen Guanxin

The meaning of travel for a group can be exemplified by the Wangpin Group, which emphasizes a corporate culture of "visiting 100 countries, climbing 100 mountains, and trying 100 restaurants in a year," inspiring 13 of its employees to voluntarily take unpaid leave and climb together to the Everest Base Camp EBC at an altitude of over 5,300 meters. Relying on personal willpower and team spirit, they all achieved their goal, and the company's Everest trip has now been booked up to 2014. The value of travel for an individual can also be seen in web designer Wang Yuxi, who fulfilled a small dream of visiting Pixar in the U.S. after being unable to study abroad, thereby finding a new direction in life. Exploring the meaning and value of travel also led the Wangpin Group and Wang Yuxi to win the top prizes in the corporate and individual categories respectively of the 2012 Taiwan New Top 100 Travelers.

Also participating in this selection event, the Dream Community Cultural and Educational Development Foundation traveled the world through the art of carnival-like revelry and a carpe diem attitude, using bold creativity and passionate costume performances to make the world fall in love with Taiwan, securing second place in the corporate category of the New Top 100 Travelers. The third-place winner, Rongqi Industrial, uniquely tailored different employee travel experiences each time, inspiring work creativity among team members and strengthening corporate cohesion.

In the individual category, first-prize winner Wang Yuxi originally dreamed of studying in the U.S. but was unable to due to various external factors. However, seizing an opportunity, he personally funded the trip and used his vacation time to actively pursue a visit to Pixar Animation Studios in the U.S. This not only provided material for his competition entry but also made Wang Yuxi deeply realize that breaking free from current constraints and achieving small dreams through travel, transforming the joy of fulfillment into motivation to seek the next goal, and rediscovering life direction through the fulfillment gained from achieving goals, is the greatest reward and value of travel. “Just like how I couldn’t study in the U.S., coming to visit the U.S. is still the beginning of fulfilling a dream.”

The second-place winner in the individual category, Liu Zhenghui, who works in a nonprofit organization, strived to help improve art education for Taiwanese children through his travels and returned to remote areas to share his experiences, helping children achieve their dreams of traveling the world. The third-place winner, Jiang Xisheng, spent nearly 100 days driving around 36 states in the U.S., covering over 12,000 miles; he also hiked on foot through multiple countries in the Americas, accumulating travel experiences in more than 20 countries.

A total of over 1,200 entries from around the world were received for this selection event, with 200 outstanding individual entries and 10 outstanding corporate entries selected. From August 13 to 25, the second phase involved online public voting (40% weight) and jury scoring (60% weight). The jury, chaired by CEO of Cite Publishing Group He Feipeng, included Qijia Chairman Tao Chuancheng, Shorea Hotel General Manager Shen Fangzheng, Yunlang Tourism General Manager Sheng Zhirén, and Dean of the Tourism College at National Kaohsiung University of Hospitality and Tourism Huang Rongpeng, who selected the annual top ten best travelers and three best companies. The full list of winners can be found at the MOOK Scenic Spots Family activity website: traveler.tripass.net/2012.