TAIWAN beckons Indian visitors
With only China Airlines operating thrice a week between Delhi and Taipei, we are now working with airlines and tourism boards to have a two-city or stop-over in Taipei
Rolling out its latest campaign ‘2 20:20’, Taiwan is set to gain a strong foothold in India by organising roadshows across the country and establishing partnerships with tour operators and travel agencies to encourage Indian travellers to choose Taiwan as their next holiday destination.
For Taiwan Tourism Bureau, India is one of its focus markets, and this was evident at its recent roadshow in Delhi. Speaking about the Indian market, Trust HJ Lin, Director, Taiwan Tourism Bureau, said, “From January to November 2018, Taiwan recorded 10.8 per cent growth in Indian arrivals to Taiwan against 4.2 per cent growth in the previous year. We feel great to have recorded double-digit growth from India. For 2019-20, our new strategy is ‘2 20:20’ — ‘2’ refers to our focus on the top 2 per cent of higher-income travellers with a purchasing power to travel represents our aim to cooperate with top 20 tour operators in India while the second ‘20’ in the campaign means that we want to achieve 20 per cent growth by year 2020.”
“We want the top tour operators to promote Taiwan so that it becomes a popular tourist destination among Indians. Right from Diwali to Christmas last year, we had run a campaign at airports and a seven-star theatre, apart from displaying advertisements at shopping malls through which we focused on the top 2 per cent,” he said.
Most of the travel from India to the island is business-related due to the huge technology market in Taiwan. “Business is for us, followed by MiCE. Additionally, Taiwan is the second cruise destination in Asia. Therefore, many Indians either with a stop-over in Taipei,” Lin claimed.
He is assured that the destination would appeal to Indian travellers. However, he doubts that the lack of Indian food in Taiwan makes people think twice before travelling to the destination. “Every time I talk to tour operators in India, they ask for the availability of Indian food in Taiwan. At our recent roadshow, we invited an Indian chef who has lived in Taiwan for more than 12 years and runs an Indian restaurant there,” he insisted.
Lin also informed that they have been working with the travel trade for a long time and are undertaking many initiatives for educating them. “We participate at travel shows around the country. We also conducted a six-city roadshow this year. Besides, we also have an online training programme through which agents can learn about Taiwan,” he shared.
Since MiCE is also an important segment for Taiwan, Lin shared that while organising
roadshows, they bring a different MiCE DMC every time with traditional DMCs for FIT. “We try and make a good package of DMCs for Indian tour operators. In fact, at the Delhi roadshow, I have been told by one of the DMCs that a group of 435 pax is set to come to Taiwan in February next year,” he informed.
While big MiCE movements from India to Taiwan are on the cards, direct connectivity is limited to the destination. Lin shared, “Currently, we only have China Airlines operating thrice a week between Delhi and Taipei. We are looking for than 6 lakh, a reason why airlines cannot increase their frequencies. Under these circumstances, we now cooperate with different airlines and tourism boards to have a twocity or stop-over programme in Taipei. We are working with Malaysian Airlines, Cathay Scoot. I hope that the stopover and twin-city programme increase in the future.”