These days, it seems that everyone I speak to is travelling to Taiwan for their holidays. My niece, my neighbour, my masseur, all due to visit this year end – and that’s just my immediate circle.
It’s like Taiwan has become the new Hokkaido for South-east Asians and all across Asia, travellers are flocking to the island nation.
From Jan-Sept this year, travellers from Asia grew by 25.01% to reach a high of 7,252,163. By next month, Taiwan will exceed a total of 9m visitors, a record high, and making it the fastest growing inbound destination in the world (26.7%), before Japan (26.4%) and Mexico (19.8%). It is aiming for 10 million visitors by 2016.
As Morris Sim, CEO of Circos Brand Karma put it last night during our first WITNext evening in Taipei, “Asia’s best kept secret has been discovered. These are the golden years for Taiwan tourism.”
On the flight over, I sat next to a senior executive from Abacus who told me Taiwan is one of their star markets for outbound travel.
Kathleen Tan, CEO, AirAsia Expedia (centre) and Aya Aso, CEO, Agora Hospitalities – Taiwan in their sights
Kathleen Tan, CEO of AirAsia Expedia, told the audience last night that Taiwan is their number one market for inbound and this is why her team has more than doubled with the aim of adding more unique hotel content to its offerings. “Asian travellers like to stay in minzhu (Taiwan’s bed-and-breakfast) and we want to cater to their tastes,” she said.
Tan herself is returning to Taiwan for a personal vacation in two weeks’ time and bringing friends with her. “I am now like a tour guide showing my friends what’s special about this place. Taiwan has always been in my heart ever since I first came here when I was part of the music industry.”
Aya Aso, CEO of Agora Hospitalities, said that for her hotel in Tokyo, Agora Place at Asakusa, Taiwanese form 60% of her business. And it all started because of a Taiwanese blogger who came to stay at her hotel, on a recommendation from Agoda, whose blog, when linked to the hotel’s Facebook page, has generated 550,000 views.
Agora has just signed a cross-marketing and cross-training agreement with local hotel group, Taipei Inn Group, to deepen ties between the two markets. “Their staff need training in Japan and my staff need to learn to speak Mandarin,” said Aya, whose mother is Taiwanese. “That’s why I feel such an affinity.”
Being here, you understand why Taiwan has become such a popular destination. It’s got all the ingredients for a great holiday. Great food (although that recent cooking oil scandal didn’t help, and Taiwan needs to work hard to address that issue), friendly people, safe, easy to get around and there’s an authenticity and elegance that’s been lost in most Asian urban cities these days.
Great food is found everywhere in Taipei.
In a way, it reminds me of Penang – a sort of “boutiquey urban” place that more savvy and discerning travellers are increasingly seeking. Indeed, Taiwan is one of those places which, after you visit, you wonder why it took you so long to discover it.
It’s also one of those travel markets which is changing really fast, driven by a new generation of young Taiwanese. At last night’s WITNext, we heard from an array of voices. Marcel Holman, general manager of Shangri-La’s Far Eastern Plaza Hotel, which hosted our event, said that young Taiwanese were eager to learn and be exposed and the industry needed to create the right image and opportunities for them.
The great thing is the Taiwanese attitude to service is ingrained, part of the Confucian values of the society, but there is a talent drain happening – for example, to China where often the same hotel jobs in Beijing and Shanghai come with higher salaries.
Robert Luo, who just joined Expedia Taiwan as its director for market management, is typical of a generation of Taiwanese who studied and worked abroad, yearned to return but couldn’t for lack of the right job.
“So when the Expedia job came along, I took it,” he said. Prior to Expedia, he was head of China Cross Border Trade at eBay South-east Asia, based in Hong Kong. “I always wanted to return but there was never the right job opportunity.”
Back three months, you can see Luo is loving being home and proud to play his part in driving a new chapter in Taiwan tourism. That new chapter is one in which customers are increasingly online, social and aware of their rights as consumers.
The sharing economy – ie Airbnb – has allowed young Taiwanese like Eunice Huang who works at Barclays a chance to get into travel as a micro-entrepreneur. She lets out her place on Airbnb and is a regular user of Airbnb because of price, uniqueness and local experiences, she said.
From left, Eunice Huang, Tan-Chi Hsieh, Jenny Law and Denise Cheng – the new travel ambassadors
Denise Cheng of Circos Brand Karma, who also studied abroad, used to think travel jobs were just limited to hotels. Then she discovered the digital marketing agency where she now manages social media for hotels. She finds herself caught between suppliers who want to do things one way and customers who want things another. “It is the most challenging yet the most interesting part of my job.”
Tan-Chi Hsieh’s parents were not impressed when their daughter, who they hoped would become a lawyer or banker after her Master’s, joined Expedia. “But I love to travel and now they see how happy I am, they understand. Travel is a fun industry and even though Expedia is a global brand, we are a start-up and I can be part of that change.”
Jenny Law who is with HotelQuickly, the last-minute booking app, represents the expatriate Asian in Taiwan. Originally from Hong Kong, she’s taken up the challenge of building a new brand and, indeed, introducing a new way of booking hotels to Taiwanese. “It is challenging but rewarding to be part of a start-up.”
For me, last night’s WITNext was an eye-opener. There were two executives from Ctrip who flew in from Shanghai just for the evening – demonstrating how important Taiwan is becoming. There were a few start-ups, indicative of the blossoming of a new eco-system that needs to be nurtured and supported. There were tourism students, eager to understand where the career opportunities are.
Having held WITNext in many places across Asia, my sense is that Taiwan’s travel is on the cusp of change and it’s going to take this new generation of travel ambassadors to tip it over and if last night’s crowd and their participation was any indication, I leave Taipei, reassured that the future is in good hands.
Now all they need is a little inspiration and mentoring.
