Hordes of people descended upon the 2009 Taichung Summer Travel Fair yesterday, looking for bargains among a wide variety of discounted tour packages.
By the time World Trade Center Taichung opened its doors for the show yesterday morning, a long line of people extending all the way to a nearby road had built up, causing serious traffic congestion in the surrounding neighborhood.
Many visitors said they were looking for an interesting but inexpensive tour package suitable for a summer vacation for the whole family.
Huang Lin-huei (黃琳惠), a project manager of Taichung-based Bosstar International Co (博思達) — the fair’s organizer — said that most of the travel agencies participating in the three-day fair that opened on Friday were offering discounted domestic and overseas tour packages to attract buyers.
For example, Huang said, a seven-day tour to Thailand and Hong Kong was being offered for NT$18,000 per adult, with children enjoying a further reduction of NT$4,000 per person.
As to local tours, “paying the same price for a bed and breakfast as in the past, you can now not only have the bed and breakfast, but also a free afternoon tea, a visit to a hot spring and extra tour guide services,” Huang said. “The packages really offer big incentives.”
Affected by the global outbreak of a new strain of swine flu, known as influenza A(H1N1), the overseas travel market declined by 30 percent last month, but the domestic market grew by between 10 percent and 20 percent, Huang said, adding that there were signs showing that overseas travel was slowly recovering.
More than 150 local and foreign travel business operators, including Star Cruises, have set up 250 booths at the annual travel fair.
They are promoting services ranging from stays at hot spring hotels or upscale business hostels and rural tour packages to leisure-oriented and bicycle-related treks and overseas honeymoon packages, Bosstar said.
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