Communicating & Connecting With the World

Fine cuisine is an important element and strong card in attracting international visitors to Taiwan. The Michelin Guide is considered the Bible of all dining guides. The publication of the guide’s Taiwan edition in 2018 has put Taiwan on the international map of fine dining. A Taiwan debut press conference, Bib Gourmand Restaurant announcement, and press release were arranged to achieve broad international media coverage, producing advertising benefits of up to more than NT$180 million. The event also significantly increased the international visibility of Taiwanese cuisine, presented the diversity of Taiwanese cuisine to the world, and increased the number of visitors to Taiwan. According to data from the Department of Statistics under the Ministry of Economic Affairs, restaurant industry revenue reached NT$473.1 billion in 2018, up 4.6% from 2017. The growth rate outpaced that of the two previous years, highlighting the benefits of the Michelin Guide in driving Taiwan’s tourism and restaurant industry development

Selected by the Discovery Channel as one of the world’s best festivals, the Taiwan Lantern Festival is a main highlight of Taiwan’s festive tourism events. The 2018 Taiwan Lantern Festival was held in Chiayi County in mid-March. The highlight of the show was the main theme lantern, “Heavenly Loyalty,” which combined the motifs of the Year of the Dog and indigenous children, as well as showcased Taiwan’s outstanding craftsmanship and technology. Two supporting lanterns—”Taiwan Happiness Inn” and “Morning Chorus”—and six traditional lantern performances based on the themes of “Love for Chiayi,” “Abundant Chiayi,” “Journey to the Zou Homeland,” “Forest Railway Discoveries in Chiayi,” “New Agricultural Land of Chiayi,” and “Migratory Birds Return to Chiayi” further added to the dazzling and immersive light show.

The 2018 Formosa Summer Festival brought together a three-month long series of event focused on the five themes of sports, food, Summer Solstice 235, sand sculpture art, and railway tourism. Through crossindustry marketing, many well-known brand companies joined the festivities this year through co-branded products and events. County and city governments and national scenic area administrations under the Tourism Bureau also joined forces to release a diverse range of 18 series of outstanding activities to create a new summer festival brand in Taiwan

The co-branded products and events included a “FamilyMart Midsummer Frozen Treat” activity, during which customers of the convenience store chain FamilyMart could enter a lottery drawing with receipts showing purchases of designated frozen desserts. Taiwan Tobacco and Liquor Corporation released a limited production of “Formosa Summer Festival” Gold Medal Taiwan Beer. A total of 300,000 cans of the limited-edition beer was sold through FamilyMart stores in southern and eastern Taiwan during the event. The more than 60-year-old Taisun Enterprise produced a co-branded limited release (2.4 million bottles) of “Taisun OhBear Formosa Grass Jelly Drink.” The packaging of the popular drink presented the scenic beauty of Taiwan near the Tropic of Cancer.

In addition, Taiwan Tour Bus operators packaged special “2018 Formosa Summer Festival” tours and several hotels offered special promotions to bring Taiwan’s summer tourism to new highs.

The “Taiwan-Japan 32 Name-sharing Railway Stations Youth Travel Activity” tapped into the recent trend of railway exchanges between Taiwan and Japan and the popularity of railway travel among Japanese visitors. Trough summer vacation internet promotions, Taiwanese and Japanese university students were invited to jointly participate in the activity to attract young FIT railway travelers and repeat visitors to Taiwan.

During the activity, participating college students from Japan and Taiwan visited eight railway stations and experienced the cuisine and scenic beauty near the stations. Attractions at 32 train stations in Taiwan and Japan sharing the same name were promoted to Japanese youth through online channels, including the Facebook page of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Osaka and participants’ social networking websites. The promotion introduced Taiwan’s railway travel charms and encouraged young people to visit Taiwan for railway travel.

The New York subway is a widely used mode of transportation for New Yorkers and international visitors alike. For the first time ever, the Taiwan Tourism Bureau‘s New York Office used the New York subway system to promote Taiwan tourism through mural painted trains on the S Line running between Central Station and Times Square, two popular attractions in the city. The promotion lasted for an entire month.

As for the designs of the train murals, the base color for the design was mainly a peachy pink, and the exterior of the car featured the image of “Aboriginal Laughter” created by contemporary indigenous artist Yosifu to symbolize Taiwan’s friendly, welcoming people. Bright blue ribbons were used to represent Taiwan’s rolling mountains and beautiful coastlines. The cars’ interiors were covered in a design emulating Taiwan’s famous Hakka flowered cotton broadcloth to showcase tourist attractions in Taiwan, including the outlying islands, small towns, culture, and cuisine. The ceiling design showed a map of Taiwan and the seats were covered in a rattan chairlike wrapper with green onions painted on the seats to add a touch of fun.

The overall design presented Taiwan’s diverse culture, natural scenery, and culture to visitors from around the world. The promotion coincided with the month of Taiwan’s National Day, adding another dimension of significance.

This was the first Tourism Bureau video to promote Taiwan in a local mainland Chinese dialect. In a “most local” style, the video presented Taiwan’s cuisine, scenic beauty, and human touch. The video was shown on large-screen monitors at 30 major subway stations in Shanghai (60 locations in total) to attract Shanghai visitors to Taiwan during the winter to experience New Year’s Eve, hot spring destinations, and Taiwan’s small town charms. Shanghai offers the most direct flights to Taiwan among the 47 mainland cities allowing independent travel to Taiwan. With more than 100 such flights weekly, Shanghai residents can easily visit Taiwan. The ad campaign aimed to create an atmosphere beneficial to encouraging mainland visitors to visit Taiwan for tourism.

With assistance from the Tourism Bureau, the product manager for Caledonian Sky cruise lines visited Taiwan in January 2018 to inspect opportunities for island hopping cruise routes. The inspection looked at port facilities and attractions in Keelung, Kinmen, Penghu, Tainan, Hualien, Taitung and other cities. Cruise island hopping tours could provide many new opportunities for Taiwan’s future cruise industry development. Taiwan can attract not only large cruise ships, but also smaller luxury cruise lines to develop itineraries with Taiwan as the home port. Smaller cruise ships can also extend itineraries from Taiwan to small and medium-sized ports to provide indepth local experiences to their passengers. The smaller number of passengers on such cruises can also create more opportunities for small and mediumsized tourism businesses in Taiwan. For the Year of Bay Tourism in 2018, the Tourism Bureau actively promoted travel to Taiwan’s offshore islands. The Caledonian stops in Kinmen, Penghu, and other outlying islands. It has helped to internationally promote the image of bay tourism in Taiwan.

In conjunction with the holding of the World Congress of the Most Beautiful Bays in the World in Penghu, the Tourism Bureau designated 2018 as “Year of Bay Tourism.” The campaign introduced more locals and foreigners to Penghu as an important bay travel destination in Taiwan. “Taiwan 10 Islands” served as the main event and brand image for the campaign to establish island ecotourism. The campaign was promoted through print ads at airports and High Speed Rail stations, travel fairs, information on the “Most Beautiful Bays in Penghu,” and promotional videos. The bureau also collaborated with the US Public Broadcasting Service’s travel program “Joseph Rosendo’s Travelscope” to produce the television special “Taiwan’s Penghu Islands.” Tese promotions presented the beauty of Penghu to more international visitors.