The 2009 Taipei Tourism Exposition (TTE) will serve as a platform for Taiwanese and Chinese travel agencies to expand business by collaborating with each other to offer consumers better tour products, the organizers said yesterday.
“With the government relaxing its cross-srait policy and exchanges between both sides of the strait becoming more and more frequent, we are obliged to offer a business platform for members of the industry and a chance for consumers to get good bargains,” said Peter Ting (丁萊), assistant chairman of the Taipei Association of Travel Agents (TATA, 台北旅行公會), at a pre-launch press conference.
The exposition will serve as a platform for cross-strait travel agencies to explore business cooperation and a chance for Taiwanese travel agencies to profit from the huge Chinese market, he said.
Ting said a cross-strait exchange pavilion will be set up for the first time at this year’s fair, which is being organized by the TATA.
Hundreds of representatives from the private and public sectors of the tourism industry in 15 Chinese provinces will participate in the exposition, including a 500-member group from Guangxi and others from Beijing, Shanghai, Zhejiang, Yunnan, Fujian and Hainan.
The TTE will run from Friday to Sunday at the Taipei World Trade Center, Ting said. He projected that there would be 600 stands and 150,000 visitors at this year’s event, twice the number as at last year’s.
Ting said discounts at this year’s fair will be 20 percent lower than last year and that tens of millions of dollars in business transactions will be generated from the sale of tour products and other travel services.
One travel agency is offering a four-day Hong Kong tour package for just NT$3,999 (US$122), while another is selling a three-day Tokyo tour for only NT$6,999, he said.
Nelson Lin(林鴻祥), marketing manager of the Macau Government Tourist Office in Taipei, said the fair was a good opportunity for Macau to promote its tourism.
He forecast that the total number of visitors from Taiwan to Macau would outstrip last year’s 1.33 million, given that 10 percent growth has already been recorded in February and March compared to the same period last year.
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