TAIWANESE amusement park and hot spring operators, as well as inbound travel agencies, held a business-to-business (B2B) meeting in Manila to meet their local counterparts for a tourism exchange opportunity to help increase the number of incoming Filipino travelers to Taiwan.
According to Taiwan Tourism Bureau Kuala Lumpur Office Director Abe Chou, this activity is aimed at introducing the various itineraries to 50 Filipino travel agencies to cater to their customers, including water-, theme park-, holiday resort-, ecology-, hot spring-, shopping and food-based tourist attractions.
“We have different choices to offer to Filipinos,” he told the BusinessMirror during the Taiwan-Philippines Tourism Promotion and B2B Meeting held recently at the AG New World Hotel in Manila. “I think Taiwan is very different from other countries in Northeast Asia.”
The Taiwan Tourism Bureau of the Ministry of Transportation and Communication of the Republic of China, in cooperation with Mode Devi Publishing, held this event to make the participants aware that Taiwan is a “must-visit” destination with hospitable people, rich culture and heritage, and vast attractions—both natural and man-made.
This activity, likewise, served as a venue for local travel agencies to connect and develop business networks and, at the same time, discover how they can promote travel packages to Taiwan for many Filipino tourists who have yet to travel to and explore this closest Philippine neighbor.
With beautiful and safe environment, this small island nation boasts of natural sceneries and special events four seasons throughout the year.
The Taiwan-grown participating companies were Yehliu Ocean World, West Lake Resortopia, Lihpao Land, Formosan Aboriginal Culture Village, Atayal Resort, Beigang Creek Hot Springs, Dong Fong International Travel Service, Eagle Tour Service, Edison Travel Service, Hwafu Tourism Group, Good Time Travel, and Welcome Holiday Travel Service.
Chou expects that such activity in the Philippines will help boost Filipino tourist arrivals in Taiwan by 10 to 20 percent next year.
According to him, a total of 309,000 travelers from the Philippines visited Taiwan from January to September 2018.
He attributed this to the visa-free initiative, multiple flights and short flying time between the two nations, wide-array of tourism spots, and ample accommodations, from international hotel chains to homestay facilities.
While Taiwan is the sixth-largest source of foreign tourists in the Philippines at present, he said that the latter is their country’s third-top tourism market in Southeast Asia.
“The Philippines is a very potential market for Taiwan,” he said. “Maybe next January or February, we will again organize different activities in Manila. We will also go to Cebu.”