As cross-strait direct flights and individual tours for mainland tourists have been opened up, many incentive groups, mainly from Mainland China, are now visiting Taiwan for destination travel. With corporations such as Amway, Herbalife, and Bayer China extending their company trips to cities in Eastern Taiwan, this has led to the involvement of cities with rich natural resources in the MICE industry, such as Yilan, Hualien, and Taitung. They have been assertively creating custom team-building activities and incentive travel routes for these incentive groups.
Yilan has built a name for itself in the tourism industry by hosting mega events such as the International Children’s Folklore & Folk game festival and the Green Expo. The completion of the Hsuehshan Tunnel has also brought Yilan many business groups which conduct their “business in Taipei and then visit Yilan for recreation”. Examples of events and conferences being held in Yilan instead are the Taiwan Junior Chamber general assembly, general assemblies for associations in electronics industries, and other events. The construction and completion of hotels such as Hotel Royal Chiao Hsi, Silks Place Yilan, Evergreen Resort Hotel, and RSL Cold & Hot Springs Resort Suao have provided enough rooms and peripheral facilities for exhibition groups. The Yilan County Government has also provided relevant exhibition resources such as field surveys to potential buyers and incentive travel groups. Those interested in holding MICE events in Yilan may contact the Yilan County Government’s Business and Tourism Department for further assistance.
Although 2010 was the first time that Hualien made it into the Global Conference Location rankings of the International Congress & Conference Association (ICCA), Hualien’s ambition to transform itself into an MICE city is apparent from the amount of resources that the government and private organizations continue to invest in infrastructure. The Shin-Kong Group plans to invest US$334 million (NT$10 billion) to build a 5-star hot spring resort hotel on the existing site of Chao Feng Farm. The wooden cabins of Netherlands Village on the farm will be reconstructed into a budget hotel, with 3 floors and 200 rooms, and a Taiwanese Aboriginal culture village. Thirty-two other tourism development projects, which are expected to create more than US$334 million (NT$10 billion) in revenue for Hualien, including direct flights from Songshan Airport to Hualien airport, have been planned.
The Ministry of Economic Affairs, Industrial Technology Research Institute, and Stone & Resource Industry R&D Center have supported the formation of the Eastern Industrial and Technological Service Center (EITSC). In the two years since EITSC’s formation, it has provided services such as technical consultation for businesses, talent training, and industrial technique guidance so that those working in traditional agriculture and fine arts, as well as the aboriginal population, can upgrade themselves and bring Hualien towards its vision of becoming an “International City of Tourism”.
Taitung received a subsidy from the Bureau of Foreign Trade (BOFT), Ministry of Economic Affairs this year, so the ‘Time to Fly’ event was expanded into the 2011 Taiwan International Hot Air Balloon Festival, successfully attracting crowds of both domestic and foreign tourists to the Luye Gaotai. To continue the growth of tourism in Taitung, the Taitung County Government will be cooperating with local exhibition operators to offer special discount programs for Mainland Chinese tourist groups and large incentive tour groups. In terms of organizing international conferences, there are plans to invite 10-20 countries from the Austronesian region in October, 2012 to hold an Austronesian Cultural Festival in Taitung, which will aim to contribute towards the preservation of Austronesian culture. The Taitung County Government stated that they have currently commissioned experts to evaluate whether or not Taitung possesses the resources and environment to host international surfing competitions. In the future, they will continue holding mega events and planning destination tourism products as a means to develop Taitung into a MICE city.
Although the counties and cities of Yilan, Hualien, and Taitung may not have transportation networks as convenient as cities on the west side of Taiwan, this has in turn allowed for the preservation of rich natural resources and the environment. Not only can these areas offer team-building events such as whale watching, river rafting, and river tracing, there are also tour routes with visits to Aboriginal culture sites and so on. This sets them apart from MICE cities in the western part of Taiwan, which emphasize business convenience. Yilan, Hualien, and Taitung possess a wealth of natural and cultural specialties, and their potential to provide MICE groups with unique destination travel services cannot be overlooked.
Taiwan – the Place to Meet
About MEET TAIWAN
The Taiwan MICE Advancement Program is a special task force, branded globally under the name of MEET TAIWAN, responsible for promoting Taiwan’s unique business events industry. This program comprises four subsidiary projects, which together ensure the highest quality of business event in Taiwan. For media relations, sales promotion and related marketing cooperation, please contact Taiwan MICE International Marketing and Promotion Project.