By Li Xinyi, reporting
One of the tourism industry’s major events, the Tourism Day Celebration Ceremony, was held today to honor outstanding tourism operators from last year. Last year, Taiwan welcomed over 6.08 million visitors, setting a new high for tourist arrivals and demonstrating the effectiveness of tourism promotion efforts. Key achievements for this year’s tourism sector include the launch of the Taipei Songshan–Seoul Gimpo route in March, which will officially complete the Northeast Asia Golden Aviation Circle. With the advancement of various infrastructure projects, Minister of Transportation and Communications Mao Chi-kuo stated that by 2016, Taiwan will become a major tourism destination with 10 million annual visitors.
The Tourism Day Celebration Ceremony honored outstanding tourism operators from last year. The Ministry of Transportation and Communications looks forward to Taiwan becoming a 10-million visitor tourism nation in four years. (Photo by Jingdianjia Li Xinyi)
Last year, the Tourism Bureau promoted Taiwan’s visibility globally through bus, print, and TV advertisements, even earning Taiwan a spot on the Lonely Planet travel guide’s list of the world’s top 10 recommended countries to visit in 2012. Regarding the record number of tourists visiting
This year, the Tourism Bureau awarded the “Taiwan Tourism Special Contribution Award” to Mr. Tyler Brûlé, founder of Monocle magazine, and Pan Siliang, chairman of the Regent Group. The former has promoted Taiwan through simple illustrations and a series of feature reports, while the latter acquired the global brand trademark of Regent, making him the operator of Taiwan’s first international top-tier hotel brand — Regent Taipei.
The unique appeal of Taiwan’s homestays is also part of the nation’s soft power in tourism. This year, New Taipei City was named the top-performing county/city for homestays, while Taoyuan, Hualien, and Kinmen received first-class honors. In the tourism attraction supervision and evaluation competition, Leofoo Village Theme Park, Formosan Aboriginal Culture Village, Ocean Park, Kiddieland, E-DA Theme Park, Shalin Forest Recreation Area, Doraemon Science Theme Park, West Lake Resort, Jian Shan Pi Jiangnan Resort, Leofoo Safari Park, Atayal Resort, and Happy Wonderland all won special excellence awards.