Mayor Hu & Central Taiwan county leaders promote Taiwan's economy with Hong Kong-Macau Tour

Words and photos by Taichung City Government
Translated by Ann Lee

The four central Taiwan city and county heads visited Hong Kong and Macau in January to effectively promote central Taiwan tourism, agricultural products and culture. First arriving in Hong Kong on January 7, the delegation hosted a raffle drawing to win cars and free plane tickets to Taiwan. While the local Hong Kong media talked about marriage between Hong Kong residents and Taiwanese, Taichung City Mayor Jason Hu noted, "We are all a big family, and we hope that this tour will help start a great relationship between Taiwan and Hong Kong!"

Mayor Hu, Taichung County Commissioner Huang Jhong-sheng, Changhua County Commissioner Cho Bo-yuan and Nantou County Commissioner Lee Chou-ching assembled the "Central Taiwan F4" team to visit Hong Kong and Macau from January 7 to 10. This unprecedented effort was the first time such a group of Taiwan city and county leaders had visited Hong Kong for the purpose of promoting Taiwan tourism. As a result, it created quite a stir in the Hong Kong media.

Hu said that the team made great efforts to inform Hong Kong and Macau citizens about the arts and culture, and economic and trade development of the four central Taiwan areas. The goal was to encourage a win-win relationship for both sides, with hopes that the Hong Kong Government will take a friendlier stance and give landing visas to Taiwanese visitors, instead of the current one-month tourist visas Taiwanese have to apply for before every trip to Hong Kong.

As part of central Taiwan promotions, it is hoped that in the near future foreign visitors will not only fly into Taipei and Kaohsiung but also arrive and depart directly from Taichung via regular, direct flights to Hong Kong and Macau. This will allow visitors to truly explore central Taiwan destinations on a deeper level. Mayor Hu said that he hopes Taichung-Macau flights can begin before the end of the year. Airlines are already negotiating over this development, which should be a major boost toward expanding central Taiwan tourism and exporting local agricultural products.

During the trip, the four city/county leaders put on an entertaining display for their overseas friends. Wearing a red hat and apron, Mayor Hu put on a comical "milk tea show" for the Hong Kong media, dancing to a music while shaking up Taichung's famed bubble milk tea. With this bit of showmanship, the mayor truly went all out to help promote Taichung tourism, making him the group's leading spokesperson.

All in all, the visit to Hong Kong to promote central Taiwan tourism can be considered a major success. Hu and the other leaders reached an agreement with the Hong Kong government to hold the first-ever city forum between Taiwan and Hong Kong within three months in Hong Kong, where participants will discuss issues regarding commercial tourism, and economic and cultural development. This will once again include issues related to direct flights between Hong Kong and Taichung. A 10-day package tour to Xiamen, Taiwan and Hong Kong may be arranged, in addition to cruise trips designed to attract younger Hong Kong tourists to Taiwan.

How exactly do central Taiwan governments plan to convince Hong Kong tourists to visit Taiwan and spend money here? The Bureau of Hong Kong Affairs and local tourism businesses have stressed the idea that tours designed to bring Hong Kong tourists to Taiwan should really be planned in a way that suits the visitors' interests and tastes. Speaking from past experience, Director of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office (HKMAO) Lin Rui-lin noted that tourists who traveled on their own without a tour group to Hong Kong were the biggest spenders. Consequently, designing a package tour between Xiamen, Taiwan and Hong Kong that would allow people to go on their own to places without a specified itinerary should be the most profitable way to go.

Hu noted that proposals made by the Hong Kong Government during this visit were truly exciting. According to that government's statistics, the number of central Taiwanese tourists travelling to Hong Kong out of the total was currently only 8%, meaning that there is still a lot of room for improvement in attracting central Taiwan visitors to the territory. As a result, Hong Kong has selected Taichung city to join its first collaboration project in an effort to establish common ground between two sides and, hopefully, host the Hong Kong-Taiwan city forum within three months.

Hu also mentioned that a very popular means of travel was cruise trips, with an ideal 10-day itinerary including three days in Hong Kong and seven days in Taiwan. Central Taiwan tourist destinations should be more attractive to younger tourists, or those interested in religion and culture. However, a key to this development is passing legislation related to Hong Kong and Taiwan landing visas as soon as possible, thereby making it much easier and convenient for Hong Kong tourists to travel to Taiwan.

Hu and the other central Taiwan team leaders also made an effort to visit Macau's Chief Executive Edmond Ho. During this visit, they established an agreement with Macau covering commercial and economic cooperation, the visit of a tourism delegation team to central Taiwan, and promotion of direct flights from Macau to Taichung International Airport. This will also help bring more central Taiwan tourists to Macau, and allow Taiwanese businessmen in Macau to return home conveniently. The goal is to set up administrative offices in both Taiwan and Macau, and later expand these offices to a greater scope that includes commercial issues between the two sides. Since this is the first time that Taiwan and Macau officials met in person, both parties showed great respect for each other in this start toward building a closer relationship between Taiwan and Macau.

Hu said that Macau Chief Executive Ho hopes that his delegation, composed of commercial and tourism business industry representatives, can visit central Taiwan right after the Chinese New Year holidays. They hope to find out more about central Taiwan agricultural products and opportunities in the local market. The central Taiwan team also raised the constructive suggestion of establishing regular direct flights between two places, and the initiation of landing visas or visa-free policies for Taiwan and Macau citizens.