Taipei Travel

City Continues Campaign to Woo ASEAN Tourists

In an effort to tap into the ASEAN tourism market, Commissioner Chien Yu-yen of Department of Information and Tourism (TPEDOIT) met with a group comprising media and travel agency representatives from members of ASEAN on April 10. The delegation is visiting Taipei to promote the city.

According to the recently released MasterCard-Crescent Rating Global Muslim Travel Index 2016, Taiwan climbed three places to seventh place in the top 10 non-OIC (The Organization of Islamic Cooperation) destinations, outperforming Japan and the United States.

The result indicates that Taipei’s measures—such as increasing the number of Halal restaurants and hotels, prayer facilities, as well as providing Muslim-friendly itineraries to boost its appeal to Muslim tourists--have paid off.

Building on the city’s initiative to lure tourists from Malaysia and Singapore in 2015, TPEDOIT will continue its effort by conducting promotional activities in Vietnam, Indonesia, and Thailand in 2016. The agency seeks to raise Taipei’s profile in the tourism industry of Southeast Asian countries.

At the invitation of Taiwan Brilliant Tourism Association, the visiting group will tour Taipei, Taichung, Tainan, Kaohsiung, and Hualien during their six-day stay on the island. Chien took the opportunity to market the capital’s appeal merging the new and the old, be it Dadaocheng, Ximending, or Xinyi Commercial District. The visitors were also impressed by local cuisines, as well as Taipei’s convenient transportation network.

ASEAN member countries--consisting of Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, Cambodia, Brunei, Laos, and Myanmar—have a combined population of 6 billion and GDP of $2.6 trillion. As the seventh biggest economy in the world, ASEAN has become a much sought-after outbound travel market.

• Source: Department of Information Technology, Taipei City Government