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  December 2005

Newly sworn in Minister of Transportation and Communication Kuo Yao-chi (郭瑤琪) yesterday offered what she described as "four pursuit" strategies to help drum up Taiwan's tourism industry.

To boost tourism, Taiwan needs to adopt four approaches - seeking long-term planning strategy, sorting out it's uniqueness, finding out about collective marketing strategies and pursuing a higher global perspective - Kuo said at a celebration to mark the beginning of Taiwan's Tourism Festival 2006.

Kuo said she has been told by people that they miss Taiwan after having been away from the island, appreciating its convenience and cordiality, tasty food and fun around the clock. She said Taiwan must seek long-term planning strategies to sharpen the competitiveness of its tourism resources, pointing out that Taiwan's natural tourism resources are by no means inferior to those of South Korea, Japan, Singapore and Hong Kong, although the numbers of tourist arrivals in those places have far exceeded the numbers visiting Taiwan over the past decade.

She said Taiwan must find its uniqueness from the point of view of tourism and use it as a marketing enticement to attract tourists. There are many things that reflect Taiwan's uniqueness, including Taipei 101 - the tallest building in the world, the Lalu Hotel by the beautiful Sun Moon Lake, and Taiwan's biological diversity, which is academically recognized as one of the richest in the world.

Taiwan must work out collective marketing strategies to bolster its tourism development, Kuo said, adding that esprit de corps is the key to allowing the tourism industry to flourish. Citing the rehabilitation of cities and townships that were ravaged by the 921 earthquake in 1999 as an example, Kuo said that tourism areas that have noticeably recovered economically were areas where store or hotel owners and operators were more willing to share resources or cooperate among themselves.

To pursue a higher global perspective, Kuo said, Taiwan must begin from the basics, such as bringing the hospitality of the Taiwan people into full play and making the country's entire tourism industry an English-friendly environment.

Kuo said that in 2005, the number of tourist arrivals hit a record 3,378,000, a figure that is targeted to top 3,750,000 this year.