Face to face: Arthur Hsieh, director, Taiwan Tourism Bureau Singapore Office
Contributors are not employed, compensated or governed by TD, opinions and statements are from the contributor directly
How many Middle East visitors does Taiwan receive each year?
In 2015, Taiwan welcomed 1,04,39,785 tourists from across the globe and of these, around 200,000 were Muslim visitors and 18,753 were from the Middle East, up 8.95% on 2014. We continue to focus our efforts on developing the Taiwan tourism offering to appeal to the Middle East market.
What factors are driving growth and how does Emirates Airline’s service from Dubai help in this respect?
Emirates’ daily direct service from Dubai to Taipei has boosted tourism to Taiwan from the Middle East region. From May this year, Emirates deployed an A380 on this route to boost further traffic.
How are you raising trade and consumer awareness of what Taiwan has to offer the ME market?
The Taiwan Tourism Bureau is focusing on the Middle East market with a plethora of activities – from participation at ATM and outdoor advertising to multiple FAM trips to Taiwan involving Middle East travel agents, print media and bloggers. We also conduct training seminars and regular sales calls to key and mid-sized agents in the market.
What steps has Taiwan taking to improve its halal tourism offering?
Taiwan is on its way to becoming a Muslim-friendly destination, which will immensely help increase its visitor numbers from the Middle East market:
e-Visa: In an effort to attract Muslim high-spend consumer groups to visit Taiwan, the Foreign Ministry announced on 7th October 2016 that Oman, UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia is included in the “e-Visa” programme. The programme offers eligible applicants a one-station service for filling out the e-Visa application form, submitting the application, and paying the visa fee online. When an application is approved, the applicant will receive confirmation by email and can print out the e-Visa to enter Taiwan.
Mosques: The Taipei Grand Mosque is the most notable mosque in Taiwan and is also the oldest and largest mosque on the island. The Kaohsiung Mosque, the Taipei Cultural Mosque, the Taichung Mosque, the Longgang Mosque, the At-Taqwa Mosque and the Tainan Mosque are a few other masjids in Taiwan.
Halal Food: Today there are numerous Halal certified restaurants spread across the city, thus making more popularity amongst Muslims travellers. Locating good Halal eateries hasbecome easier. In addition to local specialties like Hakka stir fries, Taipei beef noodles and snacks like shrimp rolls, oyster omelet, steamed dumplings and shaved ice, tourists will also be able to enjoy fantastic Japanese cuisine along with other international flavors.
Halal Food Certification: Taiwan has two certification boards; the Taiwan Halal Integrity Development Association (THID) and the Chinese Muslim Association. There are two kinds of certification, “Halal restaurants” for those owned by Muslims, and “Muslim friendly restaurants” for Halal outlets owned by non-Muslims. Since both these certificates confirm the Halal status of the restaurant, Muslim tourists looking for a restaurant to dine at could now look for the logos displayed at these outlets before dining. The Halal logos displayed at the restaurants and the helpful information found online regarding these outlets make it easier to plan a trip to the island nation.
Locating Halal Restaurants: Locating Halal restaurants in cosmopolitan Taipei is known to have more options, while those venturing out of Taipei city, especially to more rural parts of Taiwan may find it more difficult to locate Halal cuisine. When unable to locate Halal eateries in certain areas, the best option would be to find a vegetarian restaurant. Since many Taiwanese are vegetarians due to religious reasons, locating a good vegetarian restaurant will not be too difficult.
Taiwan’s tourism board is attempting to create a Muslim-friendly island nation and it is achieving success at a faster pace than expected. The Bureau has been working with the Taipei-based Chinese Muslims Association over the past few years to create a Muslim-friendly environment that would include the certification of Muslim restaurants and hotels.
100-plus businesses in the field of travel hold Halal certification as on date and other such businesses are being scrutinized for certification. These places include the National Palace Museum, Taipei 101 and hotels in tone of the most beautiful places such as Alishan and the Sun Moon Lake. Islamic prayer rooms have been made available at the Taoyuan International Airport, high speed Taichung Station rail station and along some highways.
According to the MasterCard-CrescentRating Global Muslim Travel Index (GMTI) 2016, Taiwan climbed three spots year on year to become the 7th most popular destination with Muslim travellers of all the non-Organization of Islamic Cooperation countries
TAIWAN HIGHLIGHTS FOR THE MIDDLE EAST MARKET
Sun Moon lake
The Sun Moon Lake, located in the middle of Taiwan, with an elevation of 748 meters above sea level, is the only natural big lake in Taiwan. The southern part of Lalu Island is shaped like a new moon, and the northern part is shaped like a sun; hence the name Sun Moon Lake.
Taroko Gorge
Taroko is famous for its spectacular mountains and marble canyons. Cliffs and canyons stretch along Liwu River. Four million years ago, the island of Taiwan was formed by the collision of plates. After millions of years of wind erosion, the marble rocks were exposed and cut by Liwu River, creating impressive grand canyons. From Qingshui to Nanhu Peak, the drop height is 3,742 meters. Such special geography has also bred special flora and fauna in this area.
Yangmingshan National Park
Yangmingshan National Park is located in the north of Beitou. Yangmingshan was called Caoshan (Grass Mountain) during Japanese occupation of Taiwan, because it was covered with grass and seldom visited. After World War II, the KMT government renamed the mountain Yangmingshan and built a park here. Yangmingshan National Park is the only park in Taiwan that has volcanic geography and hot springs. It is next to Shamao Mountain and Qixing Mountain with Datun Mountain on the right and Guanyin Mountain in front. The magnificent mountainous scenery and comfortable weather have made Yangmingshan National Park a perfect summer resort. Total area of the park is 125 hectares, designed in traditional Chinese style. The natural beauty of the part has won it the reputation as urban forest and the Taipei garden.
Hot Spring
Taiwan is ranked among the world’s top 15 hot spring sites, harboring a great variety of springs, including hot springs, cold springs, mud springs, and seabed hot springs. The island can proudly regard itself as one of the regions with the highest concentration and greatest variety of hot springs in the world.
Taiwan Leisure Farm (Taiwan Fruits)
Leisure farms in Taiwan are of a strong natural style, and they are often high of foreign visitors must-go list. On these farms, you can feel refreshed by things you’ve never seen and done. You shall also take closer look at Taiwan’s culture and people. What makes Taiwan’s leisure farms really fun is that you are free to join thematic activities they hold, such as picking wild vegetables, catching fish and shrimps, pedaling water mills, grilling sweet potato, harvesting rice, and picking eggs. By immersing in nature, experiencing farm life, and learning about local villages, you shall experience Taiwan like never before.
Night Markets
The enormous variety of typical Taiwanese snacks is unique in the world and most perfectly illustrates the important place that the food culture takes into the lives of the Taiwanese people. Famous and unique Taiwanese snacks range from oyster omelets to fried rice noodles, tempura, Tainan Danzai noodles, Taiwanese spring rolls and rice tube pudding. Food is cheap and delicious, and by no means inferior, while each specialty gives you an insight in the people of the area it originates from
Comments are closed.