A Friendly and Convenient Travel Environment
Creating a friendly tourism environment is an important objective in Taiwan's tourism development. The Tourism Bureau has been optimizing brands including the Taiwan Tourist Shuttle, Taiwan Tour Bus, Taiwan Pass, Fun Cards, and i-center tourism information system to build a friendly and convenient travel environment.
“Taiwan Tourist Shuttle” tour bus service to scenic spots
The Tourism Bureau has guided county and city governments and national scenic area headquarters in planning the most direct, affordable, and convenient shuttle services so domestic and international independent travelers can have more options for direct and user-friendly transportation services to scenic spots. The bureau also conducts annual route satisfaction evaluations to ensure service quality.
The Taiwan Tourist Shuttle introduced a digital guide service and multilingual station broadcast system. In addition, the shuttle website provides information on accessible route schedules and a channel for requesting accessible services. The website also added a "Bicycle Tour" section with information on routes with bicycle carry-on service, cycling routes, bicycle rental shops, and other information. The shuttles also provide dynamic information searches during travel to facilitate trip planning, among other value-added services.
In 2022, the bureau helped 20 county and city governments and nine national scenic area headquarters launch 67 Taiwan Tourist Shuttle routes, including 54 accessible routes and 54 routes accommodating passengers with bicycles (regular, folding, or detachable). These routes served around 3.21 million passengers over the year. The service also released 130 preferential packages for dining, lodging, sightseeing, shopping, and transportation to help visitors fully experience the unique charm of Taiwan.
Taiwan Tour Bus Package Tours
The Tourism Bureau provides guidance to tourism operators in the planning and design of branded Taiwan Tour Bus package tours meeting high service quality and operating standards to provide domestic and foreign tourists fast, convenient, and friendly scheduled guided transportation service from hotels and transport hubs to Taiwan's tourism areas. The full transportation service focuses on "in-depth travel" for one to four people, providing ultimate convenience.
The 26 travel agencies participating in the Taiwan Tour Bus service operate 89 routes with six themes: health and healing (23 routes), culture and history (12 routes), internet celebrity check in (24 routes), hot topic events (eight routes), indigenous cultural (four routes), and secret getaways (19 routes), as well as 12 half-day tours, 60 one-day tours, and 19 two-day tours. The themed itineraries are integrated with tourism circle resources, including local cuisine and activities to provide visitors with an in-depth themed experience. In 2022, the Taiwan Tour Bus served 25,552 passengers and generated approximately NT$53.79 million in tourism revenue.
In 2022, the Tourism Bureau and Taiwan Railway Administration jointly assisted the Taiwan Tour Bus Association in introducing a "Train-Bus Passport" offering a 25% discount on Taiwan Railways train rides and two NT$500 vouchers for Taiwan Tour Bus trips. The passports were sold for NT$790. A total of 1,200 passports were sold during the promotion period from May 1 to December 30, 2022.
Taiwan Pass
The Tourism Bureau continued to support county and city governments in using electronic stored value cards, integrating existing transportation options with discounts for dining, lodging, sightseeing and shopping to enhance the operations and expand the sales of Taiwan Pass classic and in-depth travel products. Four Taiwan Passes have been introduced, namely: 1) the Central Taiwan Pass (Nantou County, Miaoli County, Hsinchu County, and Chiayi County), 2) the Kaohsiung Taiwan Pass (Kaohsiung City), 3) the Taitung Taiwan Pass (Taitung County), and 4) the Northern Taiwan Pass (Taipei City, New Taipei City, Keelung City). These passes incorporate 36 international classic tours and 42 in-depth themed tours. In 2022, the passes were used for 363,339 transactions totaling NT$140.9 million.
i-center tourism service system and Information Station
The Tourism Bureau assisted local governments in establishing "i-center" tourism service systems with the "i" logo at key transportation hubs and national scenic area visitor sites to provide domestic and foreign visitors with convenient access to tourism information.
The i-centers provide different services based on local characteristics, and are located as follows. Three Level 1 centers are at the Taoyuan, Kaohsiung and Songshan international airports. Fifty-four Level 2 centers have been established by local governments with guidance from the Tourism Bureau at key transportation hubs, such as train stations, HSR stations, airports, and MRT stations. Fifty-nine Level 3 centers have been established by Scenic Area Headquarters within the Tourism Bureau at key national scenic area locations.
Furthermore, to create a high-quality and friendly tourism environment and promote Taiwan's warm hospitality, the Tourism Bureau designed an inter-industry cooperation mechanism that brings together public and private entities to create "Information Stations" that provide local travel information and guidance. A total of 621 of these stations had been established as of the end of 2022.
Providing an Accessible Tourism Environment with Universal Design
The Tourism Bureau is promoting and improving accessible tourism environments for mobility impaired people under the concept of universal design. A specialized team was established to coordinate and integrate efforts by various units in promoting a universal tourism environment. A total of 40 accessible recommended tours and 180 accessible tourism sites were developed to serve as a reference in facilitating visits by seniors, people with disabilities, and other individuals with limited mobility.
The Taiwan Tourist Information Website （
https://taiwan.net.tw/） has established a section providing the public with
convenient one-stop access to information on senior-friendly
and accessible tourism sites from relevant government
departments.
In 2022, four campgrounds in national scenic areas were
inspected by experts on the National Scenic Area Campground
and Universal Environment Facilities Inspection Team. This
team was created by the Tourism Bureau's Accessibility
Committee. The four campgrounds were: 1) Shitiping in the
East Coast National Scenic Area, 2) Liyu Lake in the East
Longitudinal Valley Scenic Area and 3-4) Saijia and
Liangshan in the Maolin National Scenic Area. The inspection
results are expected to be published in the "National Scenic
Area Campground Universal Design Reference Manual" in 2023.
