Nam Linh, a professional MC from Hanoi, has made it his life's goal to visit one foreign country each year. He added Taiwan to his list in mid-October. South Korea was his first overseas experience when he want there as an exchange student at age 15. Since then he has travelled to Laos, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, and last year to China.
Participants in the Dare to Discover Challenge hand-pick tea leaves at the Chiayi plantation in Taiwan. Photos courtesy of Asia Super Team
"This is my first time visiting Taiwan. I've found the country peaceful. When compared with Vietnam, which is very noisy, and other Asean countries, I kind of like it," Mr Linh tells Asia Focus as we wait for our meals at a famous restaurant in Tainan's old town.
"The country has a mixture of modern and traditional elements. I think this is something very interesting. Actually, I myself am kind of a modern person but I've found myself really attracted to the traditions and cultures of Asian countries. So I think Taiwan is unique … an ideal country for me to discover," the 25-year-old said.
Mr Linh, together with three friends from Ho Chi Minh City, was representing the insurance company Manulife Vietnam at the eight-country 2018 Asia Super Team challenge. The remaining contestants were teams from Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Japan and South Korea.
Launched in 2014, Asia Super Team is a multinational competition under the umbrella of the Meet Taiwan promotional campaign, which aims to develop the country into a major global hub for conferences and exhibitions.
A member of the Japanese team learns about Taiwanese tea making in Chiayi.
Organised by the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (Taitra) together with the Bureau of Foreign Trade, it invites companies from overseas to participate in interactive online and live competitions to experience the diverse resources and facets of Taiwan to give them a comprehensive understanding about the country's meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions (Mice) industry.
During the competition, contestants have the opportunity to learn about Taiwan's multitude of scenic locations, cultures and unique city features, as well as experience innovative approaches to corporate meeting and incentive travel that they have never previously encountered. Once back home, they will share their experiences with family, friends and work colleagues, further spreading the word about Taiwan, say organisers.
Leonor FM Lin, the Taitra executive vice-president, said past Asia Super Team competitions had completely overturned business travellers' impressions of corporate meeting and travel incentive activities in Taiwan. As well, they have created a new model of business-to-business (B-to-B) marketing.
As a result of the increase in Asia Super Team's reputation and brand awareness, target countries were increased from five to eight. Since 2014, more than 10,000 Asian business representatives have registered for the event, including Asian branches of big global names including Coca-Cola, Microsoft, Prudential, Intel, Herbalife, Amway and IBM.
“Meet Taiwan has succeeded in its efforts to promote Taiwan as one of the best incentive travel destinations in Asia,” says Leonor FM Lin of the Taiwan External Trade Development Council.
According to statistics from the Taiwan Tourism Board, 744,402 travellers visited Taiwan in 2017 for business purposes, an increase of 1.6% from the year before. Revenue from Mice activities (including conference and incentive travel) was NT$44.1 billion (US$1.43 billion), she said.
"The figures indicate that Meet Taiwan has succeeded in its efforts to promote Taiwan as one of the best incentive travel destinations in Asia," she told Asia Focus.
Guann-Jyh Lee, deputy director-general of the Bureau of Foreign Trade at the Ministry of Economic Affairs, said events such as Asia Super Team can generate more economic value for the tourism industry while strengthening the supply chain.
According to statistics from the World Trade Organization (WTO), Taiwan is the world's 17th largest goods trading nation and ranks 24th in services.
The main goals of Meet Taiwan are to establish an internationally appealing and competitive conference and exhibition environment, generate higher industry value and develop into a major hub for training and cultivation of international conference and exhibition capabilities and talent. The ultimate goal is to entice organisers of major events to choose Taiwan as their venue.
"We are confident about the potential and future development of the trade sector of Taiwan, and the Mice industry can definitely further help Taiwan to boost economic development," said Mr Lee.
"In recent years, we've spent lots of resources, improved our marketing skills and provided integrated services in order to further introduce the Mice industry of Taiwan for exhibitions, conferences and incentive travellers."
SOUTHBOUND FOCUS
Mr Lee said Southeast Asian countries as a whole represent Taiwan's second largest trading partner after China. The New Southbound Policy (NSP) launched two years ago by the government of President Tsai Ing-wen aims to enhance cooperation and exchanges between Taiwan and 18 selected countries: 10 in Asean plus India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Australia and New Zealand.
In recognition of both the opportunities and challenges that Taiwan faces in the region, the NSP has initially focused on specific economic and people-to-people areas such as agricultural cooperation, medical and public health collaboration, and youth exchanges. For example, Taiwan officially announced that it would be extending the initial visa-free privileges granted to a select number of Southeast Asian states by a year.
Participants watch Master Yan Zhen-fa at work. He is famed for his hand-painted movie posters.
"We would like to strengthen economic ties and people–to-people links between Taiwan and Asean countries so we strongly support this kind of event, Asia Super Team," said Mr Lee. "That is going to further promote Taiwan's image and to introduce a very good and competitive environment for incentive travel to help Asean people to better understand Taiwan."
The effort has been paying off, he added. "We are seeing a significant increase in incoming passengers from Asean countries, Japan, Korea and China, especially for the past year, thanks to the visa facilitation provided by Taiwan.
"It is very important that we provide a very user-friendly environment in the country so we would like to have more indications in English for hotels and tourist passes.
"For passengers from Malaysia, Indonesia and other countries in the Muslim world, we try to have a more halal-friendly environment for them."
As well, the bureau has worked with Taitra to set up a Meet Taiwan office. The office in the future is expected to play an important role to create links with foreign enterprises related to incentive travel.
"For both business and incentive travel, efficient services, good food, and also a comfortable environment are important so tourists can relax, and enjoy the environment," said Mr Lee. "An English-speaking environment is very important to meet the major requirements of international tourists and further improve our industry.
"We have an advantage to attract travellers from neighbouring countries because of the short distance of flights, as well as a similar climate, culture and environment. So based on that, we are developing core cooperation with those countries. In the future, we would like to introduce the Mice environment of Taiwan to every corner of the world."
MODERNITY & TRADITION
Besides the capital Taipei, Asia Super team contestants this year travelled to Tainan and Chiayi in southwestern Taiwan. In Tainan, an ancient township on the southwestern coast, participating teams and journalists from each country met with Yan Zhen-fa whose works of art are part of a tradition that has almost faded from view across Taiwan and Asia.
“I’m very excited about bringing my friends and my family with me to Taiwan next time, possibly on a longer and bigger journey” — NAM LINH, Vietnamese competitor
Pass by the 65-year-old Chuan-Mei theatre, and visitors can't miss the work of Master Yan as his hand-painted movie posters greet film-lovers outside and inside.
For 40 years he has been painting these posters, using oil paints to present his unique and often quite spectacular take on the cinematic attractions.
From the 1940s to the 1960s, billboard painters were in high demand. At his peak, Master Yan painted as many as 200 pieces a day. Nowadays, his pieces can be bought at NT$15,000 each.
Chiayi on the southwestern plains, meanwhile, is famous for its tea plantations, especially those in the Meishan and Alishan (Mount Ali) areas. At altitudes between 1,100 and 1,300 metres, the locations offer the best temperatures for Alishan Oolong tea.
In Meishan, which is located in the northeast of Chiayi, participants joined a tea-leaf picking competition and learned about tea making culture. The four-hectare plantation attracts around 2,000 visitors a year.
The tour also took participants to the aboriginal community of Zhu-lu, or Veoveoana in the Tsou language, which means deer hunting ground. In 2009, Typhoon Morakot devastated many communities in Alishan. The Red Cross Society and the government helped the residents rebuild their homes in a new location. Currently, the community comprises 156 households with about 400 residents.
Mr Lee said the government wants to show the outside world that in addition to Taipei and some big cities, Taiwan also has unique local cultures, traditions and economic activities.
"It's important for all the participating teams and participants to understand the local culture and environment. When travellers understand this, they can enhance their incentives and keep travelling to Taiwan," he said.
"Right now, visitors come to Taipei not only to visit Taipei 101 and commercial districts. You can go to Tainan and Chiayi or even to mountain areas, to visit tea gardens, or experience swimming near Sun Moon Lake where they have a swimming competition every year (in September), as well as cycling and hiking.
"These kinds of activities, combined with our festivals and local events, can be a very well integrated way for us to introduce our comprehensive local cultural and economic elements."
Taitra's Ms Lin elaborated that in addition to the Asia Super Team event, Meet Taiwan takes other approaches to promote the Mice industry. For example, authorities accompany local Mice suppliers for roadshows in southeast and northeast Asian countries. This year, Meet Taiwan staged Mice roadshows in Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, Vietnam and Singapore.
They also help local Mice suppliers attend trade shows overseas, such as Imex -- the worldwide exhibition for incentive travel, meetings and events -- and IT&CMA, which is the leading international Mice event centred in Asia-Pacific.
"Potential foreign Mice buyers are invited to Taiwan to attend the SENSE Taiwan familiarisation tour," she said. "It helps them to have more understanding about Taiwan's Mice environment."
Another element of Meet Taiwan is the High Five Taiwan social media campaign, which encourages people to upload pictures of themselves making the famous gesture, with air tickets as draw prizes.
The Meet Taiwan campaign is scheduled to continue through 2020. Longer-term development goals are to expand Mice industry software and hardware potential, enhance the international visibility of the Mice industry, strengthen the industry's international competitiveness, and support Taiwanese industry development through Mice activities.
For Mr Linh from Hanoi, the positive first impressions he gained in Taiwan have made him want to return.
"I'm very excited about bringing my friends and my family with me to Taiwan next time, possibly on a longer and bigger journey," he said with a smile.
MAJOR TRADER
Top markets for Taiwanese exports (value in US$ billion and % of total), 2017
- China: 89.1 (28%)
- Hong Kong: 41.3 (13%)
- United States: 37 (11.7%)
- Japan: 20.8 (6.6%)
- Singapore: 17.6 (5.6%)
- South Korea: 14.8 (4.6%)
- Vietnam: 10.5 (3.3%)
- Malaysia: 10.4 (3.3%)
- Philippines: 9.6 (3%)
- Germany: 6.5 (2%)
- Thailand: 6.4 (2%)
- Netherlands: 5 (1.6%)
- United Kingdom: 3.8 (1.2%)
- India: 3.3 (1%)
- Indonesia: 3.2 (1%)
Source: World's Top Exports (WTEx)