1. TOURISM

DOUBLE THE NUMBER OF TOURISTS BY THE YEAR 2008

Taiwan ranks 42nd in the world as a tourist destination in terms of number of visitors.
In the main these visitors are travelling on business (37%) and come from the Asian region (45%).

Achieving the proposed objective involves:

- understanding the current situation
- analysing potential strengths
- proposing a strategy

If we compare Taiwan with other island or coastal tourist destinations around the world (Hawaii, Cuba, Miami, Australia, Malaysia) we find that Taiwan has the following key conditions for success at the global level:
- good climate
- good economy and trade
- unique landscape
- fine cuisine
- tradition and culture
- 3,000 million people within less than 3 hours by air and 4,000 million within less than 5 hours

What Taiwan lacks are major tourist attractions ready to cater for this incipient industry.

THE KEYS TO TOURIST DEVELOPMENT ARE:
‘All tourist development starts with local national tourism.
Tourism only attains full development when it combines with investment in property development.
The tourist industry develops on the basis of a critical mass of accumulation of people.
Public-sector investment is needed to stimulate private investment.
Tourism is not organized in space, but in time.’

J. M. Iribas. Expert in international tourism)