Taiwan strives to draw more Thai tourists
The Taiwan Tourism Bureau has launched more aggressive marketing campaigns to boost the number of Thai visitors by 10-20 per cent.
Thailand is an important market for Taiwan, which last year welcomed about 100,000 Thais, but only 30,000 of them were real tourists.
This year, the country will spend Bt10 million on activities throughout the year to promote various aspects of Taiwan’s charms, David Tsao, a director of the bureau based in Malaysia, said yesterday.
For example, the island has hot springs or spas to offer, which are similar to Japan’s onsen, but only a few foreign people know about them.
Beyond natural beauty and friendly people, Taiwan is still safe and its transport system is convenient for foreign guests. All existing facilities to serve tourism are ready to welcome a growing number of travellers.
Regional tourism is very competitive with promotional campaigns executed by countries to capture a bigger share of the Thai market, which is considered as a key source, he said.
Countries are giving importance to their tourism industry to help strengthen their economies. Recently, Japan scrapped visas for Thai tourists. This is fanning competition. Now Thais will think twice before deciding where to travel, Tsao said. Taiwan is easing its own visa-application process for Thais as a way to reduce barriers.
Taiwan has an edge over such rivals as Japan and South Korea in terms of cost and shorter flight times. Costs there are similar to those in Thailand.
Last year, 7.6 million foreigners arrived in Taiwan, with mainland Chinese on top, followed by Japanese and Hongkongers. In Southeast Asia, Malaysia was its biggest source, sending more than 340,000.
Asean is still a key market and the bureau will introduce a marketing strategy to lure more visitors and also to keep in touch with local media.
Thais using travel agencies made up 80-90 per cent of the total. The minimum travel package costs more than Bt20,000 for five days and four nights. Mainly Thais like to go to Taipei to enjoy shopping and dining.
Taiwan’s tourism-promotion office in Kuala Lumpur serves Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia as well as Malaysia itself.
