In order to stimulate domestic tourists and international tourists to come to Taiwan on weekdays, the Tourism Administration launched the "Two-wheel Drive Tourist Plan", which will be launched in September. Among them, the most anticipated weekday accommodations are discounts of up to NT$2,000 on the main island and accommodations on outlying islands with subsidies of up to NT$2,500. The usage situation since the launch of the program was reported by Huang, deputy director of the Tourism Administration. He Ting said that of the 1.53 billion yuan spent on weekday accommodation, 24.95%, or nearly 1/4 of the fund, has been used, which means more than 380 million yuan has been used. Judging from the feedback from hoteliers that "the number of guests on weekdays has really increased," it has indeed achieved the effect of guiding tourists to China Travel on weekdays.
The Tourism Department plans to invest a total budget of 3.33 billion in the "tourism two-wheel drive plan", including: five major preferential plans for weekday international travel: weekday accommodation, birthday accommodation, amusement park accommodation, Taiwan PASS dual-province plan, and international travel incentives for company employees; to strengthen international tourism momentum, there are four international tourists' return visits, international tourists' incentive travel, international tourists' convention and exhibition drop-in travel, and international benchmark concert support programs.
The Tourism Department held a "All Industries Support China Travel" promotion carnival and thanksgiving press conference today. Huang Heting said that the daily accommodation funds were 1.53 billion, and 24.95%, nearly 1/4 of the funds, had been used so far, which means more than 380 million yuan had been used. Other programs have been used one after another. Among them, the number of applications for company employees' China Travel scholarships and subsidies has reached 371 groups, and arrangements are ongoing. As for the international tourists who started traveling on October 10th, online login has been open since October 1st. Currently, nearly 49,000 independent tourists have applied, and more than 200 groups have applied.
After the subsidy was put on the road, has the effect of "not slowing down in off seasons" been observed? Huang Heting said that judging from the feedback from hoteliers that "the number of tourists on weekdays has really increased," it is true that the weekday international travel subsidy has the effect of attracting tourists to weekdays. She hopes that people can arrange their vacations and not overly concentrate on weekends or consecutive holidays, so as to ease and divert the holiday tourist crowds.
As for the international tourists, Huang Heting said that as of the end of September this year, the number of international visitors to Taiwan was 6.175 million, a slight increase of 1.93% compared to the same period last year. However, now that the world is facing challenges such as the war in the Middle East and rising oil prices, the Tourism Administration is still working hard to win over international tourists. For example, the two-wheel drive plan for tourism launched this time also includes a subsidy plan for international tourists, hoping to attract more international tourists to Taiwan.
Regarding the goal of tourists coming to Taiwan this year, Huang Heting said, "The Executive Yuan hopes to reach tens of millions of visitors, so we will work hard." She will gradually move towards the goal and even perform better. "This year's challenges are huge, but we will still work hard."
Some people on the Internet also pointed out that the international travel subsidy "treats the symptoms but not the root cause." Huang Heting responded that each international travel subsidy plan has its advantages and disadvantages. According to the post-epidemic international travel market survey, not only Taiwan, but also the global travel market is gradually moving towards short-term, high-frequency light travel. People may switch to half-day or one-day travel around their residences. However, in fact, the number of international travel is increasing year by year. The Tourism Administration hopes that people can stay longer and spend more. Through subsidies, they encourage people to stay, experience local activities, and feel local culture and stories. Subsidies serve as encouragement and guidance to guide people to travel internationally on weekdays.
