Taiwan Keen To Attract Malaysian-Chinese Tourists.

18th March, 2013

Taiwan Keen To Attract Malaysian-Chinese Tourists.

BERLIN - Taiwan is very keen to attract tourists from Malaysia, and has been highlighting areas of interest to the Malaysian-Chinese community, which has increased its visits to the island republic.

Using the catchphrase "Tantalising Taiwan" to make a strong pitch for Taiwan as an attractive destination at the just-concluded International Tourism Bourse (ITB) of Berlin, Cheng Ying-Huei, the deputy director of the international affairs division at the Taipei-based Taiwan Tourism Bureau, said that tourism has become one of the top six segments of the country's economy.

He said that Taiwan was not just eyeing the traditional Western markets but also the Asean markets, with Malaysia serving as a major source of tourism traffic. Cheng added that tourism generated revenue of US$11 billion in 2011.

"If in the past, visitors comprised largely of business travellers, we now see a growing number of leisure travellers visiting Taiwan. We received some 7.31 million tourists last year, an increase of 20.11 per cent over 2011," Cheng said in an interview with Bernama in Berlin.

While Western tourists were attracted by culture, tourists of Chinese origin, including from Malaysia, were drawn by several attractions, particularly the Sun Moon Lake, the common Chinese culture, Buddhist landmarks and, particularly in the case of Malaysian-Chinese, by traditional Chinese medicine.

Taiwan is also playing up as an innovative place of learning traditional Chinese medicine to court Malaysian-Chinese tourists. Indeed, the Asean region has become one of the major markets for Taiwan to source tourism from, with Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia providing the bulk of the region's traffic.

"Malaysian-Chinese also visit Taiwan for shopping, wedding photo shooting, which has become highly popular among young people," she added.

Cheng said that Malaysian companies could offer their employees incentive travel benefits. The employees could enjoy "not only the benefits of a common culture with links to Malaysia but also feel very much at home". Taiwan's Tourism Bureau regularly organises roadshows in the Asean region. Malaysia is one of the countries that is seen as a market inherent with good business potential.

By: Manik Mehta

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