The island of Taiwan has witnessed a 5.5 per cent growth from India in the first half of the year. Last year the destination welcomed 40,000 Indian travelers from across all segments. Taiwan is now aggressively focusing on the incentive market for growth.
Speaking about the current growth, Trust Lin, Director, Taiwan Tourism Bureau – Singapore office, said, “India is not only a potential FIT market for us, but it is an important market in terms of incentive. In the first quarter, we welcomed a big group from India from Hyundai and in second quarter we welcomed the Asus Group. We had more than 20 per cent growth in Q1 2019. But, due to the changing scenario Q2 went flat. We have a 5.5 per cent growth overall in first half of the year. Our target is to grow by 20 per cent by 2020.”
The Bureau recently launched various promotions in India with a major one being the Mumbai Metro branding. In 2020, Taiwan is looking to partner with OTAs and also promote the destination digitally.
“We have an office in Mumbai and we did a lot of promotions here. We have also signed a new PR agency dedicated to look at the incentive groups. For the first time, we branded Metros and this helped us in increasing awareness about the destination. We will do more such campaign this year. In 2020, we will be more focused on airline partnership and internet marketing. We will partner with OTAs, conduct webinars and social media promotions, etc. Currently we have only non-stop service from Delhi with two to three flights a week. This is not sufficient as India is so big with a lot of cities. We have partnership with Cathay Pacific and Singapore Airline to use their air services and also one can travel to twin cities,” he added.
Taiwan is looking to partner with MakeMyTrip and other OTAs to promote the destination. The Bureau will also strengthen its partnership with Singapore Airlines, as connectivity between India and Taiwan is a challenge.
Explaining the current scenario, Lin said, “Visitor from Hong Kong to Taiwan is decreasing. Our international visitor has increased, but for India market a lot of them fly with Cathay Pacific and fly to Hong Kong and then Taiwan. From Jan to Aug, we did only 5.5 per cent growth. We are now also focusing a lot on our partnership with Singapore Airlines to boost traffic. We are more focused on family and incentive and we are now working closely with OTAs to tap the FIT segment. We are looking to partner with MakeMyTrip and other OTAs. This year we are focused on cruise, honeymooner, Bleisure, women tours.”
In 2018, Taiwan welcomed over 11 million travelers from across the globe. The top markets are China, Japan, Hong Kong, Korea and USA.
