TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — International tourists who come to Taiwan mostly visit the twin cities of Taipei and New Taipei and rarely visit other parts of the country, a phenomenon travel writer 943 attributes to a lack of publicity for places other than these two cities.
943 believes that the concentration of visits to the twin cities by international tourists is mainly because the only place they know in Taiwan is Taipei, and has nothing to do with the existence of mass transportation, CNA reported.
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Lin Chun-hsien (林俊憲) said recently that according to statistics, 83.7% of international tourists visited Taipei, 56.8% visited New Taipei, but very few traveled to other parts of the country, such as Tainan City, a domestic travel hot spot, which garnered less than 5% of visits by international tourists.
Travel writer 943 said that the question she was most frequently asked by Japanese is, "I like Taiwan very much, and I really want to go to more places in the country, but I only know Taipei. Are there any counties, cities, or attractions outside Taipei that you can recommend?"
943 pointed out that when a map of Asia is opened, Taiwan is only marked with Taipei and Kaohsiung, and in most cases, Tainan is not shown on the map, which also speaks for many other places in the country.
Foreign tourists may have heard of Taroko in Hualien and Sun Moon Lake in Nantou, and they would not refuse to visit these two places simply because there is no mass rapid transit (MRT) there, they can not ride bicycles or motorcycles, or there is no air conditioning or the streets are not tidy.
943 said that she had heard that some foreigners think that Tainan is the northern part of Kaohsiung, or that Taoyuan is the southern part of Taipei, because when they go to Taipei, they have to fly to Taoyuan Airport. So it all comes down to lack of publicity, she said. For instance, foreign tourists have been very interested in the Yanshui Beehive Fireworks Festival, thanks to the publicity it has received, she added, per CNA.
