A total of 1,123 teams from 44 countries and areas around the world have registered to take part in a contest to design the best itinerary for a tour of Taiwan — part of the government’s efforts to promote tourism.
Tourism Bureau officials said the US boasted the largest number of participants for the “Best Trip in the World — Taiwan Explorers Wanted” contest with 97. Hong Kong came in second with 94, while Japan and India had 70 each, the officials said.
Contestants come from a wide variety of countries including Iraq, Israel, Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Nigeria, the officials said.
Anyone was eligible to enter the contest, as long as his or her team has at least two people and at least one team member is not Taiwanese. Registration ended on Tuesday.
Two French teenagers came up with an itinerary featuring stays at tourism farms to get first-hand experiences of rural life, while a German couple intended to visit Taiwan on a quest for delicious dumplings.
A group of South Korean female college students plan to make a “chase the pop idol” trip to Taiwan, with local boy band Fahrenheit (飛輪海) their prime target.
Meanwhile, a Malaysian team has shown keen interest in Taiwan’s indigenous culture and has submitted a plan to visit four Aboriginal communities. The team will catalog each community’s special features or representative songs to serve as theme songs for the videos they will make to record their trip.
An Australian couple in their 70s plans to scale Yushan (玉山).
The Tourism Bureau is scheduled to announce the 50 teams with the best itineraries on Friday. Each team will get NT$7,000 per day for up to four days, or NT$28,000 in total, to spend on their travels.
The teams must pay their own way to Taiwan between July 11 and Aug. 31 to qualify for the travel subsidies, although the bureau will help them obtain discounts from Taiwanese air carriers.
During their trips, the winning teams must upload a short video about their daily adventures, along with a 200-word description, on the official contest Web site. After their departure, they must upload an 800-word travel note plus a video for the second stage of the contest.
The team that generates the most interest online stands the best chance of winning the grand prize of NT$1 million (US$30,000) and the opportunity to travel around Taiwan for a month next year, a trip that will be used to promote Taiwan as a travel destination.
The Tourism Bureau will announce the winning team by Nov. 15, with online voting results serving as part of the selection criteria.
US President Donald Trump yesterday announced sweeping "reciprocal tariffs" on US trading partners, including a 32 percent tax on goods from Taiwan that is set to take effect on Wednesday. At a Rose Garden event, Trump declared a 10 percent baseline tax on imports from all countries, with the White House saying it would take effect on Saturday. Countries with larger trade surpluses with the US would face higher duties beginning on Wednesday, including Taiwan (32 percent), China (34 percent), Japan (24 percent), South Korea (25 percent), Vietnam (46 percent) and Thailand (36 percent). Canada and Mexico, the two largest US trading
ACTION PLAN: Taiwan would expand procurement from the US and encourage more companies to invest in the US to deepen bilateral cooperation, Lai said The government would not impose reciprocal tariffs in retaliation against US levies, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, as he announced five strategies to address the issue, including pledging to increase Taiwanese companies’ investments in the US. Lai has in the past few days met with administrative and national security officials, as well as representatives from various industries, to explore countermeasures after US President Donald Trump on Wednesday last week announced a 32 percent duty on Taiwanese imports. In a video released yesterday evening, Lai said that Taiwan would not retaliate against the US with higher tariffs and Taiwanese companies’ commitments to
‘SPECIAL CHANNEL’: Taipei’s most important tasks are to stabilize industries affected by Trump’s trade tariffs and keep negotiations with Washington open, a source said National Security Council Secretary-General Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) arrived in the US for talks with US President Donald Trump’s administration, a source familiar with the matter said on Friday. Wu was leading a delegation for a meeting known as the “special channel,” the Financial Times reported earlier. It marked Trump’s first use of the channel since returning to the White House on Jan. 20. Citing a source familiar with the matter, the Financial Times reported that Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) was also a part of the delegation. The visit came days after China concluded war games around Taiwan and amid Trump’s
CHIP EXCEPTION: An official said that an exception for Taiwanese semiconductors would have a limited effect, as most are packaged in third nations before being sold The Executive Yuan yesterday decried US President Donald Trump’s 32 percent tariff on Taiwanese goods announced hours earlier as “unfair,” saying it would lodge a representation with Washington. The Cabinet in a statement described the pledged US tariffs, expected to take effect on Wednesday next week, as “deeply unreasonable” and “highly regrettable.” Cabinet spokeswoman Michelle Lee (李慧芝) said that the government would “lodge a solemn representation” with the US Trade Representative and continue negotiating with Washington to “ensure the interests of our nation and industries.” Trump at a news conference in Washington on Wednesday announced a 10 percent baseline tariff on most goods
RSS