TravTalk India Online Magazine
Cindy Chen, Acting Director, Taiwan Tourism Administration, speaks about their target numbers from India this year and their ongoing attempt to have a direct flight between India and Taiwan.
Hazel Jain
Taiwan Tourism took a significant step to cater to the growing interest of Indian travellers by opening a Taiwan Tourism Information Centre (TTIC) in Mumbai earlier this year. The centre serves as a one-stop comprehensive resource hub, providing essential travel information and insights about Taiwan, making it easier for potential outbound travellers from India to plan their trips to the island nation.
Sharing arrival numbers from India, Cindy Chen, Acting Director, Taiwan Tourism Administration, based in Singapore, says, “The visitor numbers from India to Taiwan in 2019 were around 40,000. This year, from January to June, we have already received about 19,000 visitors from India. This is about 92 per cent recovery. We mainly get leisure and business travellers to Taiwan, but we believe India has high potential and we have a lot to offer like beautiful hotels, interesting venues, and great hospitality services. Our aim for this year is to touch 40,000 (visitors).”
Taiwan Tourism also aims to increase the number of days Indians spend in Taiwan. “Our Taiwan Tourism Information Centre also helps us interact with the local travel agents and with the airlines and helps us conduct training sessions to let the travel agents know more about Taiwan’s tourism resources. We will also have workshops in major cities in India and engage with the national and regional travel trade associations,” Chen adds.Taiwan Tourism also has a long-standing programme to subsidise travel agents who send their clients to the destination. “We offer incentives for both leisure and MICE groups. The minimum size for an incentive group is 30 pax and for leisure its only five pax. To apply for this, they need to send their documents to us,” she said.
