‘Holiday for Healing’ in Taiwan

Taiwan has established ‘Holiday for Healing’ as an umbrella recovery concept within which, to focus on experiences, amidst nature and new itineraries will be promoted to encourage Indians to truly take a holiday to heal their soul, after the pandemic. Mehak Chowdhary, Representative, India, Taiwan Tourism Bureau, shares more.

Tell us briefly about the current scenario in the tourism of Taiwan.

Taiwan is currently at 200+ days with no local transmission of Covid-19 cases and is open to domestic tourism. We are encouraging people to ensure adequate distancing and decluttering of popular areas. Island hopping trips to the lesser-visited islands, nature trails and treks or event experiential activities like Tea Trail and Local festivals with tribal populations are immensely encouraged. A majority of hotels have come together to create an NT$500 discount program (https://www.save500.tw/) to encourage hotel bookings and further promote tourism in the upcoming winter months.

In the last week of October, a second round of domestic cruises also took place with the ‘Dream Cruises’ which has varying itineraries upto a week, across the various islands of Taiwan. We have had no outbreak or health incident on board.

What kind of connectivity does Taiwan have with India? Kindly share all means of reaching your country from India.

In normal circumstances, there are several airlines connecting India and Taiwan, including Singapore Airlines, Malaysia, Cathay to name a few. We were working towards establishing a set of direct flights between Taiwan and India, and that would be part of our opening up strategy later in 2021.

What is your marketing plan and strategy to bolster your share in Indian outbound market? What share of the Indian outbound market were you receiving in 2019?

Taiwan Tourism Bureau has locally steered the Taiwan Southbound policy announced by President Tsai Ing-wen in 2016 that aimed at enhancing cooperation and exchange between Taiwan and 18 countries in Southeast Asia, South Asia and Australasia. During this period, Taiwan had started to invest and emphasize in growing their market presence in India and attracting Indian travellers (from holiday and MICE/B2B) which witnessed an expansion of tourism opportunities and a 7-fold growth in tourism from India in the past few years. 

Taiwan has also established ‘Holiday for Healing’ as an umbrella recovery concept within which, to focus on experiences, amidst nature and new itineraries will be promoted to encourage Indians to truly take a holiday to heal their soul, after the pandemic. At the start of 2020, the target was a 20per cent year on year growth, but will re-visit the number in the post-pandemic scenario. 

What role will tourism play in the fate of the Taiwan? How does tourism impact your GDP?

Taiwan as an economy has several areas of contribution towards GDP, including technology, manufacturing and then tourism. Contribution of tourism to GDP has varied between 5per cent and 10per cent. However, Taiwan hosts 10 million tourists annually with large patronage from international travellers across Asia. 

The pandemic has made us work on multi-layered concepts and markets for tourism. We have begun to re-focus on domestic tourism, which is currently the most critical for us, especially with a high purchasing power amongst locals. 

We are also renewing our focus on the Business and MICE traveller. And thereafter comes the international tourist. This approach will define our outlook towards tourism in both the short and long run.

For domestic tourism, we have created several incentivisations such as the hotel discount program, free rights on the nightline in Taipei, offering NT$30 day tickets for five key buses in mountainous areas and even the promotion of local and tribal festivals that encourage learning and celebration.  

Which of your destinations have been popular with Indian tourists? Which do you think will become popular post pandemic?

It’s hard to pinpoint any one particular area or region as popular with the tourists. Over the past few years, we created incentives and itineraries around romantic and adventurous getaways and witnessed an influx of Indian tourists. We have traditionally always hosted tourists in Taipei and thereabouts with a large curiosity and interest over local cuisine.
 
Earlier this year, we had announced Mountains as the focus of 2020, with over 260 peaks at 3000 metres elevation, with varying levels of difficulty and access to international vacationers.

In the post-pandemic phase, we would like to focus on ‘Holidays for Healing’ which implies itineraries and experiences that allow international travellers to relax, rejuvenate and heal from the trauma of the pandemic. Since no two individuals are alike, neither is their healing process and therefore, nor can the regions or itineraries be identical. However, we do envision holidays amidst natural reserves such as the Alishan National scenic area to be more popular. Taiwan is also developing a host of ‘experiences’ - memorable activities that replace the trauma with new experiences, such as Tea Trails and Flower-exploration driven itineraries.

How are hotels in Taiwan planning to lure back customers after the pandemic? 

Similar to domestic incentives described previously would be the incentives for international tourists. However, the specific nature will be analysed and an opening strategy re-drawn in the first two quarters of 2021

How have they ensured all precautions have been taken to prevent Covid 19?

Taiwan has chosen to avoid issuing or participating in any global certifications. It is our responsibility to ensure all hotels, BnBs, homestays that are operational comply with pandemic prevention measures. This period of domestic tourism, which began as early as July 2020 has also served as an ideal learning ground, where we are constantly learning from the situation and feedback. The numbers tell the story - 200+ days without a single local transmission of the virus, in spite of heavy domestic tourism and cruises. 

To further incentivise travel during winters, hotels are offering a flat discount of NT$500 when booked through a singular platform. We are also supporting local boat rentals and cruise operators with marketing, promotion and awareness campaigns to encourage travellers to choose from these options.



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