Tales of Taiwan Tourism In Richmond
A four-year break in the schedule of tourism missions by the Taiwan Tourism Administration to Canada and the U.S. came to an end last week, with a series of promotional events that kicked off in Vancouver.
A comprehensive presentation on Taiwan tourism, including a hands-on culinary demo, was offered to a full house of about 90 invited travel retailers last week. By turning out for the event, they got the opportunity to meet some 30 Taiwan supplier reps, including executives from Taiwan’s international airlines and senior staff from the Taiwan Visitors Association.
The boisterous evening took place in the striking John M.S. Lecky UBC Boathouse on the Fraser River, next door to Vancouver in Richmond. It made good on its invitation to “embark on a journey of discovery, showcasing the best of Taiwan’s culture, cuisine and cocktails.”
Part of the Taiwan Tourism Workshop was focused on the Taste of Taiwan cooking class. During the class, the travel professional guests were given hands-on lessons on preparing traditional Taiwanese dishes. In addition, Bar Mood Taipei, which is a top-50 bar in Asia for the past several years, served a special cocktail based on Yushan whiskey.
There was plenty of prepared culinary options on hand if guests opted out of the kitchen session. PR company Reach Global devised a menu that served all palates but had an Asian Fusion theme with vegetarian and meat options. The Bao Bar echoed the restaurants and food stalls at night markets in Taiwan.
Trips made by tourists from North America to Taiwan exceeded 325,000 from January through July 2023, reaching about 75% of pre-pandemic arrival numbers (2019), said the Taiwan Tourism Administration.
Other than the neighbouring Asian markets, North America is the region that has the best recovery rate of arrivals, said the tourism administration. Canada is a big part of this picture and the Canadian market is important to the recovery of tourism in Taiwan, said Angel Liu, director general from the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Vancouver. Hence the choice of Vancouver as the first stop on the tour.
Promotional offers by Taiwan Tourism Administration, such as free half day tours and accelerated/expanded inbound tourism promotion programs (incentives for FITs and groups) have been helpful in driving the recovery, said Li-Yu Yu of the Taiwan Tourism Administration. For instance, visitors staying between three and 90 days, who are not part of tour groups, can enter for a chance to win NT$5,000 in consumption vouchers.
More presentations were made by other members of the delegation, including, for instance, executive reps from Taiwan’s two national airlines – China Airlines and EVA Air.
Prizes awarded by lucky draws at the end of the evening included multiple Taiwan to North America round-trip flight tickets (courtesy of the two airlines), plus hotel vouchers and tour packages sponsored by hotel and tour operators in Taiwan.
The Taiwan mission continued south of the border to two U.S. cities – Los Angeles on Sept. 21 and New York on Sept. 25.
IN THE PHOTOS
TOP
A Taiwan product supplier explains her programs to an attentive table of travel retailers during the recent Taiwan Tourism Workshop in Richmond, BC.
MIDDLE
Taiwan tourism executives Gail Chang (l.) and Cathy Hung of the Taiwan Tourism Bureau met with tour operator Richard Huang, general manager of Silkway Travel in Burnaby and Richmond, during the recent Taiwan Tourism Workshop.
BOTTOM
Tour operator Ricky Poon, VP of One Dream Travel, met with China Airlines officials executives Lillian Lin, area sales manager for China Airlines (l.) and Joy Lee, passenger sales manager for China Airlines.
