ZHANG BI YU, PhD student at the Institute of Asian and African Studies, Moscow State University

Taiwan tourism industry , Keywords:, russians in Taiwan, tourist infrastructure, ecotourism

Tourism in Taiwan is one of the most important sectors of the economy and a significant part of the country's social life. It is difficult to find another state where a third of its residents travel abroad every year. Some - on business, but most - as tourists. Taiwan is just such a country. Every year, its citizens make about 10 million trips outside the island. And although not all of them can be called purely tourist, for a country with a population of about 30 million people, this is quite ^a lot1.

In 2012, the "ten - million mark" was even surpassed-10.24 million Taiwanese citizens left the island. However, mostly to Asian countries - they annually account for more than 9 million rubles. trips, including to mainland China - 3.14 million, to Hong Kong (Hong Kong) and Macao (Macao) - special administrative regions of the People's Republic of China - 2.02 million and 527 thousand trips, respectively ². I will make a reservation: we are talking about the number of trips, not the number of people who visited the mainland , because some crossed the border several times.

As for the 1 million Taiwanese who choose to travel around the world, there are few places on our planet that they have not visited. It is fair to say that this number includes tens of thousands, and possibly more, of entrepreneurs.

However, the island of Taiwan itself is still a "terra incognita" for foreign tourists - they do not come here too much. And many native Taiwanese people know little about the sights of their country and, unfortunately, do not like to travel.

THERE MAY BE MORE GUESTS

Taiwan was visited by 7.31 million tourists in 2012, which is 20.1% more than in 2011. In the first place - residents of mainland China (2.59 million, or 35.4%), in the second - Japanese (1.43 million), in the third - tourists from Hong Kong and Macao (1.02 million) ³.

Taiwan's authorities plan to increase the flow of foreign tourists to 10 million a year by 2016, primarily at the expense of tourists from India, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines. The marketing strategy of the Bureau of Tourism Affairs includes several areas : national cuisine, culture, ecotourism, shopping, etc.

Until recently, the growth of tourist traffic to Taiwan was hindered by difficulties in obtaining visas and the lack of diplomatic relations with many countries. However, Taiwan's President Ma Ying-jeou's policy of "flexible diplomacy" since taking office in 2008 has produced tangible results.

In recent years, the number of countries where Taiwanese citizens do not need a visa to visit has grown rapidly. Of the major countries with which Taiwan has long-standing and close ties, only Japan has granted visa-free entry to holders of Taiwanese passports (since August 2005). In early 2009. the introduction of visa-free entry to the country for Taiwanese for up to 6 months for tourism, business, study or visiting relatives was announced by the United Kingdom-the first of the European states. In response, Taipei introduced the same treatment for the British. (Note that until March 10, 2009, British citizens, as well as citizens of 37 other countries, including 24 member states of the European Union (EU), enjoyed visa - free entry to Taiwan for up to 30 days.)

On January 1, 2011, the EU Council's decision on visa-free entry of Taiwanese citizens to 35 European countries came into force. The Council's press release of 25 November 2010 noted that the EU countries, although they do not maintain official diplomatic relations with Taiwan, but work closely with it, and therefore adopted this decision. Among European countries, only Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova and some Balkan countries have not yet granted Taiwan residents the same right.

In one of his public speeches, President Ma said that the number of countries and territories that have granted Taiwanese citizens the right to enter without a visa or obtain an entry visa when crossing the border will reach 131 - this is 98% of all countries frequently visited by Taiwanese ⁴.

RUSSIANS IN TAIWAN

The tourist flow from Russia to Taiwan is low. According to Liu Jian Long, Consul of the Representative Office of the Taipei-Moscow Coordination Commission for Economic and Cultural Cooperation in Moscow, 7.6 thousand tourists visited the island in 2012. Russians - by 11.5% more than in 2011. (6.7 thousand).

Nevertheless, according to Russian operators, the "tourist relations" of the Russian Federation with Taiwan are developing steadily. As Sergey Jang Sha, CEO of China Tour&Business Travel, told me in an interview, Russians mostly make business trips to the island with visits to specialized exhibitions and enterprises. "Sometimes they combine the business part with the cultural program, but compared to mainland China, especially in terms of sightseeing opportunities, Taiwan is noticeably inferior to its neighbor."

Natalia Dalbinova, Head of Sales at the well-known Russian company Oriental Discovery, also regrets the lack of noticeable growth in tourist traffic to Taiwan. Clients of this travel agency usually travel to the island for only a few days - for international exhibitions and meetings with business partners. "The ratio of businessmen to tourists is 10 to 1, and even then these are people who have already been everywhere, seen everything, they only need Taiwan "for the collection," explains N. Dalbinova. However, they are willing to go to Taiwan's lakes, for example, the largest in the region of the Sun and Moon Lake, visit national nature parks.

Sergey Sedov, Head of the Astravel department, is more optimistic. According to him, every year the number of visits to Taiwan by Russians

It is growing by about 10%. 10 years ago, he recalls, about 3 thousand people a year left Russia for the island, now it is 2.5 times more.

Some problems arise due to the fact that Russia does not have direct flights to Taipei; tourists have to change seats in Singapore, Bangkok, Hong Kong, Seoul and some other cities. The Russian company Transaero tried to organize a direct flight from Moscow to Taiwan, but it did not pay off and was soon canceled.

In addition, for many Russians, a tourist trip to Taiwan seems expensive: prices exceed Chinese (for similar services) by about 5 times. So, the average cost of rooms in four-star hotels is $120-150 per day, dinner in a restaurant for two people - about $50-60. An 11-day tour offered by Russian travel agencies costs 80 - 105 thousand rubles. This makes Taiwan accessible almost exclusively for business tourism.

There are other problems that reduce the tourist popularity of Taiwan. This is, for example, the lack of regular flights not only to Russia, but also to a number of other countries. The Taiwanese, alas, have not yet learned how to advertise the island's tourism opportunities abroad.

We have to admit that the tourist infrastructure is poorly developed, there is a shortage of hotels, and tourists ' access to certain parts of the island that were recently occupied by the military is still limited. Travel companies do not have sufficient experience in working with foreigners, and there is a shortage of foreign-language guides and support staff. The offered tours do not sufficiently take into account the interests and psychology of foreigners.

Meanwhile, the travel industry around the world is "focused" on new methods of work - "customer orientation" and "target management". These methods involve upgrading and improving tourism packages, developing new tourism products, opening up new areas of Taiwan to tourism and creating appropriate infrastructure, and developing new types of tourism.

Most foreign tourists visit the island groups located near Taiwan-Penghu (Pescadores), Jinmen, Mazu; and individual islands - Orchid (Lan-yu) and Green (Lu-dao).

The Penghu Archipelago is the most popular tourist destination. It is an island range that stretches along the north-south axis approximately in the middle of the Taiwan Strait, consisting of 64 small islands. In 2010, more than 480 thousand tourists visited Penghu. For comparison: Mazu - 75.9 thousand, Orchid-57.3 thousand, Jinmen-47.4 thousand, Green-32.3 thousand. ⁵

TOURISM-FOR EVERY TASTE

There are many historical tourism sites in Taiwan. Here you can get acquainted with the culture of the Taiwanese Aborigines (Hakka people), religious and historical attractions. Today, sightseeing tourism is traditionally dominated by tourists from Japan, the United States and East Asian countries. One of the tourist sites is called "Old Mountain Line". This is a 15.9 km long railway track in Taichung County, passing through picturesque corners of nature with stops at old stations - historical attractions. It is planned to revive the Hualien Port railway line, which runs from Hualien Port to the old Hualien station. The rail road will form a single complex with a special bicycle route ⁶ being laid nearby.

Another type of tourism cultivated in Taiwan is agrotourism. There are many farms on the island where you can have a great time. Guests live here at home. Tea lovers can take part in a special tour to the island's tea plantations, where the best varieties of Chinese tea are grown.

Taiwan has about 100 hot and cold spring resorts, including unique marine hot springs on Green Island. The main foreign clients - "medical sphere"- of Taiwanese tourism for many years remain the Japanese.

On the southeastern coast of Green Island, there is the Zhaozhi Thermal Spring. Open-air pools with thermal waters are an ideal place to treat many diseases and relax. There are only three such sources of salty thermal water in the world - the other two are located in Sicily in Italy and on the Japanese island of Kyushu. Tourists can watch the beautiful sunrise from here - it is no coincidence that the name of the spring translates as "morning sun".

Business trips (up to 29% of foreign visitors), in fact, are not "tourist" in the generally accepted sense. Just like visiting Taiwan with artists from many countries on tour and festivals. Many art lovers specially come to such festivals.

A new and increasingly popular form of active tourism is ecotourism: dolphin watching in the open sea, as well as birds, butterflies and flowers, many of which are extremely rare in other places. A deer park was opened on Green Island in 2010, where visitors can observe sika deer and other representatives of the island's fauna.

Green Island is one of the most unique places for scuba diving enthusiasts. Hidden underwater landscapes are beautiful thanks to the warm ocean current Kuroshio, passing through the northwestern Pacific Ocean, past the Green Island, in the direction from the Philippines to Japan. More than 400 species of tropical reef fish and 200 species of coral are amazing. In order to preserve the marine environment in Chaikou and Shilan, two of the most popular scuba diving destinations, the Taitung County Government designated these areas as natural reserves ⁱⁿ 2001.7 The island should not be "terra incognita" for Russian tourists.

I sincerely hope so: My article convinced Russian readers of the magazine that Taiwan is a wonderful, though still underappreciated, place to relax and explore our beautiful world.

¹ Statistical data of the Bureau of Tourism Affairs-http/ / advin. taiwan. nt^,t.tv/statistics/ycar_cn.aspx?no=15).

² Ibid.

³ Ibid.

⁴ Taiwan Tourism Policy Development Study-hUp:/ / (lec.gov.tw/pul lic / planaUach / 20100803110654130318. pdf( in Chinese), p. 24.

⁵ White Paper on Tourism Policy. Government Bureau for Tourism Affairs under the Ministry of Transport and Communications. Taiwan, 2012 (in Russian), p. 51.

^{Huang Jin.} 6 Zheleznaya koleya dlya turistov [Railway track for tourists]. 2010, No. 1, p. 23.

^{Van Audrey.} 7 Walking on the islands / / Taiwanese panorama. 2008, No. 1, p. 15.

Permanent link to this publication: