It seems that the good old Republic of China, Taiwan drew near on 700,000 U.S. visitors in 2006, making it the 16th most popular destination for U.S. travelers - ahead of Switzerland, Australia, Greece, and even Thailand.
Personally, I found this kind of surprising. I never really think of Taiwan as a tourist hot spot - but rather a place to live and work in an expat job. On my very first plane ride to Taiwan, way back in-the-day, I sat next to a couple who were on there way to tropical and romantic Taiwan for their Honeymoon. After speaking with them for five minutes it was clear to me that they had confused Taiwan and Thailand - they were from Idaho, or some such rural place. They probably ended up consumating their wedding in some Love Hotel with mirrors on the ceiling, in Xhimending, with some chamber maid waking them in the middle of the night - to offer them the services of a hooker. What a reality check.
I guess it’s a great thing for Taiwan that so many foreigners come to the Island. Can’t all be for business. (Wonder how large a number of that figure is ABC’s returning to The Old Country, how many are business travelers, and how many are true leisure tourists).
I would hazard a non scientific guess that 98.9% of those western visitors to Taiwan come here for work/business related reasons, albeit on a tourist visa… of the 1% of western non business travellers that come to Taiwan, the majority are parents coming to visit their expat worker children and see a bit of the island while they are here… 0.1% of visitors, if that, are legitimate tourists… I’d bet the farm that 100% of the non business “tourists” never make a second trip to Taiwan… Viewed in isolation, the parts of Taiwan where the people aren’t ie. high mountains, areas of the East coast, outlying islands, etc. are okay, but with much more beautiful, more affordable, more tourist friendly, more varied and more interesting destinations literally on all sides of Taiwan (okay not the East…) , why would any informed tourist in their right minds want to come to Taiwan?..
Consider how many of those 700,000 “tourists” are on business trips. I have met very few tourists. Most of them are here on business.
And I have met at least one guy who mistook Taiwan for Thailand. Man, was he suprised. Met him at a pub, and he was really wondering where all the smiling Thai working girls were located…
Aren’t you a bit harsh on this lovely island? I think Taiwan is on par with Korea and Singapore in attractiveness (which doesn’t really mean very much), maybe even a bit better. The biggest drawback IMO is the ugliness of the houses. Just painting those gray concrete walls would make a huge difference. I think most Taiwanese people lack a sense of beauty when it comes to the urban environment. They simply don’t care. In Greece, for example, they paint the houses on the islands there probably once a year. If they could do that in Penghu, that would change the whole atmosphere.
As others have pointed out it’s probably more family/business travel as opposed to tourism. Having said that, however, I think Taiwan is a little underrated as a tourist destination. You’ve got mountains, beaches, jagged coastlines, big cities, Chinese culture/dining/etc, all in an area that’s relatively safe and compact. Also, despite all the complaints about the locals here, they really aren’t too bad when compared with some other places.
The one thing it doesn’t have is the big name, or the single big ticket tourist item.
[quote=“redandy”]As others have pointed out it’s probably more family/business travel as opposed to tourism. Having said that, however, I think Taiwan is a little underrated as a tourist destination. You’ve got mountains, beaches, jagged coastlines, big cities, Chinese culture/dining/etc, all in an area that’s relatively safe and compact. Also, despite all the complaints about the locals here, they really aren’t too bad when compared with some other places.
The one thing it doesn’t have is the big name, or the single big ticket tourist item.[/quote]
But it does: the Palace Museum, the greatest collection of Chinese art in the world. That everyone in the world does not know this, and that they have no idea how to display the works in their best lights is a source of perpetual frustration for me.
In any case, as I have written many times, the tourism board is quite aware that Taiwan is not quite ready for sophisticated western tourists and won’t be for another 20 years. In the meantime there is lots for the more casual tourist including birding, hot springs, hiking, river tracing, biking, aborginal culture, a fantastic temple heritage and living folk religious culture, etc.
The slogan for Taiwan should be something like: Come for the greatest collection of Chinese art; stay for the unique local attractions.
a)the most underrated destination in Asia. There are some truly amazing places here, although they take a lot of work, insider knowledge and Chinese language ability to get to.
b)the worst promoted destination in Asia. Taiwan is known as a business place. People come here for business, to work or to visit family. The govt doesn’t help, with their weird mismatched romanisation systems, lack of English speakers in tourist offices, poor maps, etc. I’ve met 8 year old kids in Indonesia who speak close to fluent English, French, Japanese and German. All learned by being around intl tourists. Taiwan has university grads working in tourist offices and train stations who can barely speak English, even though they’ve had 10 years + of lessons.
The simple fact is that if Taiwan wants tourists they’ve got to either employ a lot of English speakers in the tourist industry, or open the market up to unrestricted tourism from China.
I like the Jade Cabbage, Qingming painting, and endless snuff bottles as much as the next museum goer but for most Americans, I’d hazard a guess that Chinese art ain’t exactly high on their list of interests. Those that travel purely for art is a pretty small minority and an even smaller minority is interested in Chinese art. So even if the Palace Museum is known as THE place for Chinese art, I doubt that it’d be the driver behind a significant increase in tourists, should that day ever arrive.
Don’t get me wrong, the Palace Museum stacks up well against any of the museums I’ve been to in NY or DC, and I’ve been to the good ones. The problem is that I doubt most American tourists realize it. So, if someone’s going to make one trip to Asia they’ll probably pick Beijing/Forbidden City/Great Wall.
As for tourism promotion in the U.S., I think Taiwan needs to broaden the audience and give some more detail. I see the “Touch Your Heart” logo quite a bit, but mostly in Chinese grocery stores or on the Taiwanese TV station and other places with lots of Taiwanese. Also there’s the problem that other than that one logo, you really don’t see much. I mean, if I can turn on the radio and hear ads for tourism in Iceland, surely Taiwan could get out there a little more.
Oh, I gotta say, thank you so much for the op. I mean, I’m laughing with tears in my eyes at the though of a newly wed couple actually boarding a plane and STILL not noticing that they are headed to the wrong country! Ohh, boy! And the fella in the bar! Well, a young man alone and looking for easy asian girls, I guess I can see him being dumb enough in the first place. But someone at the travel agency, or even a simple internet search of their desired honeymoon destination should have clued the couple in. Wow.
But, to be more on topic, Taiwan simply is not set up for tourists. I tried to get the family interested in building a hotel on some family land on ponghu, but they though I was crazy. Every time I went to FuLong I was amazed that no one was ever interested in catering to what could have been a huge tourism market. They just don’t get it. Taiwan touch your heart ads are almost always in places that no foreigners would find them, outside of the MRT anyway. I’ve only seen that ad once on t.v. outside Taiwan and that was a part of a news report about Taiwanese parlament brawls. Most Taiwanese are simply too intimidated to try to deal with us big noses on a large scale.
But it does: the Palace Museum, the greatest collection of Chinese art in the world.[/quote]
EXACTLY. Maybe most uncivilized Westerners don’t appreciate such things, but to those of us who do, it’s a major attraction.[/quote]
Actually, the Palace Museum in Beijing has a much more extensive collection although it is not nearly as well displayed as Taipei. Its holdings are also steadily increasing whereas the Taipei collection remains relatively stagnant. In the case of Beijing, the museum building complex in and of itself (that being the Forbidden City) is attraction enough to blow away anything similar that Taipei has to offer.
My point exactly. However, a museum may be the focal point of a visit and the Beijing Palace Museum (aka Forbidden City) can more than easily be marketed as a focal point of any visit to Beijing while the Taipei Palace Museum simply does not have the same drawing power. Thus, Taiwan must sell itself in other ways and I’ve yet to see a competent effort to brand Taiwan as a desirable tourist destination. Certainly where I live, I’ve seen good tourism campaigns for S. Korea, Hong Kong, and Singapore. Taiwan, however, is only well known here for its fights in the legislature. Some of the folks here think it’s communist, some think it’s a military dictatorship, and some, of course, think it’s Thailand.
I think Taipei 101 has done a lot over the past few years to put Taiwan on the map for Western tourists, but with the building being second tallest now, it’s uniqueness has gone. Unlike the Eiffel Tower in Paris or even the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur the architecture is not unique enough to be remembered well.
I would say, the biggest attraction of Taiwan for tourists is Taroko Gorge. That’s a one-of-a-kind place. Very impressive if you go through there. Problem is, it’s kind of hard to promote, cause it doesn’t look all that spectacular on photos. And always pointing out that the gorge is deeper than the Grand Canyon is really misleading.
I tend to agree with MM’s assessment. That is, Taiwan is not for sophisticated tourists, but for people looking for a local experience, it is a good mine. Two examples illustrate my point.
A friend of mine from Australia travels all over Asia on business. He’s told me more than once that, compared with other cities in modernized Asia, Taipei stands out as the least modernized of them all. I don’t think he’s especially harsh–he loves the food here, enjoys the nightlife and the people he rubs shoulders with. Much prefers doing business with Taiwanese versus Japanese.
My cousin and his wife and older children visited me in Taipei a few years ago. He’s an airports manager for an airline back the US, so he travels on free overseas vacation jaunts about once every few months. They have been all over Asia. I took them not just to the CKS and SYS Memorials and 101, but also to several local spots, including a tea garden on YM Mountain, Long Shan temple, some night markets, and WuFenPu to shop for clothes. They loved Taiwan so much that they’ve been trying to get back ever since.
Bottom line: If you’re looking for luxury or even well-managed tourist attractions and outdoor activities, Taiwan lags far behind most other locations in East Asia. If you’re looking for an interesting experience with local culture, Taiwan is an excellent place to visit.
On a personal note, I’ve been surprised by how much Taiwan has gotten under my skin. Earlier this year, we went with the whole clan to Penang and Lankawai in Malaysia for a week. On Day Four, I found myself sitting on a gorgeous beach, sipping a cold beer, relaxing with the family…and missing the hell out of Taiwan. Something about Taiwan makes it hard to want to leave permanently.
I’d say that’s an accurate assessment. I’d also hazard to say (and correct me if I’m wrong) that in terms of ability to safely go off the beaten path Taiwan outranks most of SE Asia. For instance, most of the people I’ve known who visited Thailand pretty much stayed in either Bangkok or the beach resorts, and seemed to be rather intimidated by the prospect of venturing off into the wild, so to speak. In Taiwan on the other hand, it seems like just about everyone gets out of town at some point.