COVID has handed Taiwan an opportunity to improve the quality of domestic tourism. It also tests Taiwan's ability to convince its globetrotting citizens to continue spending on domestic travel after the pandemic. Adapting to post-COVID travel trends, the Tourism Bureau shifted focus to invigorating and optimizing the domestic travel market by promoting refined, local, innovative, diverse, in-depth, and high-quality tourism resources highlighting distinctive local features. Through market-driven development, the bureau advanced refined tourism with an emphasis on experiences and discovery of local charm. It also promoted local travel based on regional concepts and created distinctive regional travel destinations throughout Taiwan to continue building interest in domestic travel and prepare for the reopening of borders to international visitors.
Diving into Local Culture with Low-Carbon Bicycle Tourism
he Tourism Bureau linked and improved 16 bicycle routes based on Taiwan's island-wide road network. The routes are integrated with the distinctive local features of national scenic areas and span a range of types, including coastal routes (North Coast, Golden Mountain and Sea Route, Southwest Coast Route–Taijiang Section, and East Coast Route), riverside routes (Yilan Coast Lanyang Plain Route and Dapeng Bay Route), countryside routes (East Rift Valley–Idyllic Route, Siraya–Lingpo Guantian Route, and Southwest Coast Route–Chiayi Sugar Factory and Guashan Santie Route), mountain loop routes (Huanlan Mambo Route, East Rift Valley–Forest Hot Spring Route, Shitou Mountain Route, Sun Moon Lake Route), mountain routes (Maolin Route–Kaohsiung Hillside Towns) and outlying island routes (Penghu Route). The bureau seeks to encourage people to enjoy the pleasure of traveling by bicycle and support low-carbon transportation. In cooperation with LINE Travel, the Tourism Bureau also integrated travel information on the Year of Bicycle Tourism theme page, including checkpoint tasks and prize giveaways. The system provides real-time push notifications on bicycle travel activities, live streams of celebrity cyclists, and promotions inviting people to experience the 16 bicycles routes. On December 25, 2021, the Tourism Bureau held the 2022 Go Bike Taiwan news conference at Emei Lake in Hsinchu County. The public was invited to discover the distinctive local food, hotels, attractions, and shopping opportunities while cycling on the 16 bicycles routes.
The Tourism Bureau promoted bicycle tours and encouraged travel agents to create bicycle tours integrating locally distinctive elements, such as small towns, indigenous villages, mountain forests, culture, and art with local industries. A total of 30 such tours were submitted for selection. The bureau also arranged promotions for Taiwan Bike Day (May 5, 2021) and distributed information on cycling tours at international travel fairs and through bicycle tourism websites.
