Establishing the Tourism Union is one of the crucial tourism policies of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications. The Tourism Administration, MOTC, hopes to leverage the Tourism Union composed of local industry, government, and academia to reevaluate local resources. Through the powerful concept of regional individuality, marketing, and promoting local travel, the goal is to create distinctive regional tourist destinations. This initiative aims to attract international travelers to visit Taiwan multiple times, and encourage them to explore various regions and extend the duration of their trips, thereby experiencing an in-depth understanding of Taiwan. Following this direction, the Matsu Tourism Union Industry Alliance was established in June 2022, under the promotion of the Matsu National Scenic Area Administration (hereinafter referred to as the Matsu Administration). After more than a year of adjustment and learning, the Matsu Tourism Union has begun to take shape.
In order to deepen the organizational operations of the Tourism Union Alliance this year, the Matsu Administration has continued to hold consensus meetings to gather opinions from all parties. Additionally, the Matsu Administration hopes that by establishing an organizational charter, it can assist the alliance in autonomous operations. Under the collaboration and efforts of various parties, as of November 10th, the Matsu Tourism Union Industry Alliance has obtained 123 official members, and the number continues to grow. Today, on November 14th, to make the alliance organization more representative, a member assembly was held at the Nangan Visitor Center to discuss the organizational charter and conduct the election of organizational officers.
The current alliance leader, Councilor Chen Shu-jian, specially used the Council’s recess to attend. He expressed gratitude to the Matsu Administration for its dedication to promoting the Tourism Union. Although Director Huang of the Matsu Administration hoped that he would run for the alliance leader again, he had to decline due to personal reasons. Nevertheless, he wished for the success of today's assembly and the smooth election of the next alliance leader.
After the discussion on the organizational charter, the candidates for alliance leader and deputy leader immediately presented their campaign statements. Among them, alliance leader candidate Yang Yao-zhi (the current Chairman of the Lienchiang County Association of Travel Agents) expressed that through interactions with the Tourism Unions across Taiwan, he discovered the great possibilities of the Tourism Unions. He expressed a willingness to dedicate himself to Matsu and, if elected, aims to promote the integrated marketing of Matsu tourism across various units. He plans to identify attractions during the low season to attract visitors and balance the difference in tourist numbers between high and low seasons, as well as figure out how to assist the hotel business in addressing workforce shortages.
The assembly followed the established schedule and conducted the voting for the alliance leader and deputy leaders from 12:00 PM (noon) to 4:30 PM. Through the method of “one member, one vote,” the second Tourism Union Alliance Leader, Yang Yao-zhi, was elected, along with Nangan Deputy Leader Liu Hao-chen (of Dayspring), Beigan Deputy Leader Wang Yuan-song (of Golden Dragon Holiday Villa), Dongyin Deputy Leader Wang Yu-ren (of Dong Yin Hai Jiao), and Juguang Deputy Leader Zheng Zhi-xin (of Captain B&B).
Director Huang Shih-Fang of the Matsu Administration expressed special thanks for the strong support from the outgoing alliance leader, Councilor Chen Shu-jian. Through the succession of the new alliance leader today, it is believed that the Matsu Tourism Union Industry Alliance will continue to voice the most local and representative opinions in the future. The Matsu Administration will continue to collaborate with the Tourism Union, facilitating dialogue and collaboration among the various industries within the Alliance, providing learning platforms and industry upgrade guidance programs, and promoting the development of sustainable tourism. Simultaneously, efforts will be made to promote international marketing for the Tourism Union and foster cross-domain and cross-industry collaborations with other Tourism Unions. He specifically gave an example: Matsu could consider launching a high-speed rail holiday. By integrating airlines with the Taiwan High-Speed Rail, a Matsu high-speed rail holiday could attract travelers from Central and Southern Taiwan to visit Matsu. Various creative marketing plans such as this one rely on the collaboration between the Tourism Union Industry Alliance and the Matsu Administration. It is a joint effort to enhance the quality of tourism services in Matsu.
