The Central Taiwan Summit
was held at National Changhua
University of Education on
August 2 in order to promote
tourism in central Taiwan.
Those in attendance included:
Taichung County Deputy
Magistrate Chang, Taichung
City Mayor Hu, Changhua
County Magistrate Zhuo and
Nantou County Magistrate Lee.

The Central Taiwan Summit to Promote Tourism

Words and pictures by Taichung City Goverment
Translated by Sho Huang

The 2007 Central Taiwan Summit was held at National Changhua University of Education in order to promote the tourism industry in central Taiwan. Taichung City Mayor Hu, Taichung County Deputy Magistrate Chang, Changhua County Magistrate Zhuo, and Nantou County Magistrate Lee signed an agreement titled "Two Out of Three Hopes", intended to help build a strategy to promote tourism. The agreement also suggests that the Executive Yuan should upgrade the functions of Taichung's CCK Airport, to help bring more development to central Taiwan.

The 'Three Hopes' for Central Taiwan
The Three Hopes outlined in the plan of the same name are: 1) building convenient traffic networks and consolidating tourism resources; 2) a strategic approach toward central Taiwan's tourism industry; and 3) promoting cultural activities and using them as a platform to boost tourism. In addition, it's hoped that the central government will help make Taichung's CCK Airport into a more international facility and hold more international events to help draw more guests from around the world.

The meeting between the four cities was arranged by the Changhua County Government. Taichung City, members of the Nantou County Government and representatives from the academic and industrial sectors were also invited to the August 2 summit. Besides discussing current tourism developments and future plans for each city, summit participants all agreed that "going international" will bring more domestic and foreign visitors to central Taiwan.

Working together as a whole
Taichung City Mayor Hu said that a successful tourism strategy will help develop cultural tourism, real estate, and service industries. His deepest wish, as he put it, was for everyone involved to adopt the Nike attitude of "Just Do It" when it comes to boosting tourism. The boost will help Taichung grow in wealth, satisfaction, health, happiness and beauty, the mayor said. Taichung County Deputy Magistrate Chang also noted the importance of cultural activities and the arts for attracting more international tourists.

Although tourism resources are abundant, the number of visitors coming to Taichung hasn't quite reached goals. To attract tourists, especially from abroad, a creative marketing strategy has to be carefully planned. Most people think of windmills and tulips when the Netherlands is mentioned. Yet, when people ask about Taiwan, it's hard to associate the island with anything. One possible reason for this lack of identity is because all of the cities in Taiwan have been promoting tourism in their own regions, but have rarely come together to promote Taiwan as a whole to the rest of the world.

'Smokeless' Industry brings out individual characteristics
Nantou County Magistrate Lee said that tourism, known as the "smokeless industry", was one of the three major industries in the world. As well-known tourist sites like QiJing, Sun Moon Lake, and HeHuan Mountain are all in Nantou, the county government has been actively trying to join with other cities to promote joint projects. For example, one specialty in Taichung is the sun cake. A specialty in Nantou is Assam black tea. When these two specialty foods were combined, the YangCha cake, very popular in China, was created. Currently Nantou's government is trying to combine Sun Moon Lake with West Lake (Xi Hu) in HangZhou to create even more business opportunities.

Changhua County Magistrate Zhuo said that central Taiwan does have rich tourism resources: Taichung City's trump card is its modern development; Changhua has its access to ocean resources; and Taichung and Nantou counties have the geographic advantages of mountains and traditional culture. Consolidating these resources and working together can contribute greatly to the development of tourism all over central Taiwan.

Building a strong center in Taiwan
Well-received suggestions from the academic and industrial sectors were also offered. These suggestions included: building a Central Taiwan Tourism Association, developing resources with an environmentally-friendly approach, using the media to attract international tourists, maintaining clean tourist sites, upgrading training for workers at sites, creative ad campaigns, building more tourism networks, and consolidating traffic resources. As it was also suggested, it would be a good idea to let foreign students work at tourist sites in order to understand the culture better.

On July 29, Mayor Hu gave a brief speech at the Central Taiwan Economic Development Forum. His speech, focused on "Building a Strong and Powerful Center" in Taiwan, noted that Central Taiwan was the "heart" of the island. Likewise, to speed up economic development, that heart must be strong. Hu also noted that the president and the mayors are like shop managers, whose role is to make money for the shop employees, which are the country and local people. He welcomes everybody to enjoy central Taiwan. "Visit the tourist sites in Nantou and Changhua," he said. "But spend your night in Taichung!"