Tourism Administration, M.O.T.C. Republic of China

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The Tourism Bureau, Ministry of Transportation and Communications will host the "2022 Tourism Festival Awards Ceremony" at the International Reception Hall of Grand Hotel Taipei today (Feb. 11). The purpose of the ceremony is to thank and commend 84 groups and their employees from domestic and foreign tourism industries for their determination and unremitting efforts in fighting against the Covid-19 pandemic over the treacherous and ever-changing past year. They have been working tirelessly to find innovative ways to break through, respond or coexist with the pandemic. In 2021, through the joint efforts of the government and the tourism industry, Taiwan was recognized by many international awards and certified as a safe tourist destination. Taipei, for example, is ranked as the second-best city to visit among the top ten best tourist cities in the Best in Travel 2022 (the 2022 list of the world's top ten best tourist countries, regions and cities) released by Lonely Planet, a globally renowned travel authority. This clearly shows that despite the pandemic, Taiwan's tourism industry continues to make concerted efforts through online publicity, cross-industry alliances and physical activities to promote this island country’s high-quality tourism services using Taiwan’s unique charms, and these efforts have been affirmed by the global tourism industry.

The Tourism Festival Awards ceremony is an important annual event for Taiwan's tourism industry. Since the Omicron variant is surging globally, however, this year’s ceremony will be scaled down to invite only the award recipients, and the pandemic prevention guidelines published by the Central Epidemic Command Center will be strictly followed at the ceremony site. Pandemic prevention measures will be strengthened and real-name registration will be required. To enable the domestic and overseas tourism partners and the general public who cannot attend the event to observe the grand ceremony, a live online broadcast will be made available. This year's ceremony will be attended by a number of VIPs such as Wang Kwo-tsai, Minister of Transportation and Communications, Chang Shi-chung, Director-General of the Tourism Bureau, and Yeh Chu-lan, chairperson of the Taiwan Visitors Association. In addition, a number of overseas friends who enjoy and support Taiwan’s tourism will also be there, including Japan’s "Queen of Enka" Sachiko Kobayashi; US Emmy Awards winner Joseph Rosendo; Tadashi Shimura, President of the Japan Association of Travel Agents; Oh Chang Hee, President of the Korea Association of Travel Agents; Bao Yi-xiong, President of the Malaysian Chinese Tourism Association; Alyne Tamir, a blogger with over one million subscribers and others who will broadcast videos to convey their fond memories of Taiwan and desire to return once international travel opens up again to experience Taiwan’s diverse tourist attractions.

MOTC Minister Wang Kwo-tsai said that although the border restrictions have not yet been lifted, the foreign offices of the Tourism Bureau will still maintain close cooperation with international partners as that is the best way to be safe during the pandemic while still promoting international tourism in Taiwan. Minister Wang also mentioned that the Tourism Festival Awards ceremony is an occasion to express our special recognition and thanks to international partners who support Taiwan, that the Tourism Bureau will focus on national travel first in the post-pandemic transformation, and that the Tourism Bureau shall actively implement the "Taiwan Tourism 2025 Plan" through five major strategies, namely "creating attractive venues, developing themed tourism, optimizing the industrial environment, promoting digital experience, and expanding the sources of inbound tourists” so as to promote the sustainable development of tourism. Minister Wang also encouraged the tourism industry to capitalize on the Taiwan brand as the best international marketing tool, strive for the recovery and growth opportunities for inbound tourism to Taiwan, and polish the new image of the Taiwan tourism brand as "the first choice for safe travel".

This year's Tourism Festival Awards ceremony is very meaningful in celebrating the success in overcoming of a most difficult period over the past year. To laud the joint efforts of the government and the tourism industry, six awards will be granted in this ceremony, namely "Awards for Contribution to Taiwan Tourism", "Outstanding Tourism Organization Award”, "Outstanding Tourism Enterprise Award", " Outstanding Tourism Industry Professional Award", "Outstanding Enthusiastic Group & Individual Award", and "Outstanding Theme Park Award” in order to honor those individuals and organizations that have had outstanding performances and made contributions to the development of Taiwan's tourism in the past year. Moreover, in the middle of ceremony, to express respect and gratitude toward the anti-pandemic efforts of the tourism industry employees, the theme song of Taiwan tourism industry, "Taiwan - The Heart of Asia", will be sung a cappella while photos of tourism industry partners are displayed.

The Tourism Bureau has promoted an annual tourism theme every year since 2017, including Eco Tourism in 2017, Bay Tourism in 2018, Taiwan Small Town Ramble in 2019, and Year of Mountain Tourism in 2020, which has successfully driven tourists to experience an in-depth and diverse range of themed travel. Last year, in response to the "Taiwan Cycles in 2021", 16 bicycle paths with a total length of 849.3 kilometers were created, 30 high-quality itineraries were selected, and 39 bicycle tourism activities such as Taiwan Bicycle Day were launched, successfully strengthening the Taiwan’s bicycle tourism image. This year, in order to promote Taiwan's diverse and rich tourist attractions, the Tourism Bureau has built on the foundation of the themes of the past years to further integrate the themes into ecology, culture, food, and LOHAS (Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability). With the value-added concept of "Tourism Plus", the Tourism Bureau has been continuously refining, optimizing and incorporating new elements, aiming to create a new tourism highlight. In addition to providing our own people with diverse and exquisite domestic tourism experiences, the Tourism Bureau has also been reserving energy for inbound tourism by making Taiwan an "important destination for Asian tourism" as the pandemic has begun to slow down.

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