TAIWAN’s Bureau of Foreign Trade (Boft) and the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (Taitra) recently held a Meet Taiwan networking event to promote the country as a prime destination for MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitors) events.
Themed “Jom Taiwan”, the programme also aims to promote Taiwan as an ideal destination for MICE events to Muslim owned companies and also Muslim tourists from Malaysia.
According to 2018 tourism statistics from Taiwan’s Tourism Bureau, tourists arrivals from Southeast Asia have increased, accounting for 21.95 percent of the total number of inbound visitors to Taiwan, with Malaysia topping the list among regional countries with 500,000 visitors.
Seen as a destination of interest for Muslim tourists, the Global Muslim Travel Index 2019 ranked Taiwan as the third among the most popular countries for Muslim tourists.
To encourage companies to host their MICE events in Taiwan, Meet Taiwan has established a “Partner Package” and also offers different levels of incentives, mostly based on the number of visitors brought to the country.
The executive director of Taiwan’s MICE Promotion Programme Jessie Tseng said the Meet Taiwan initiative aims to develop a Muslim-friendly environment.
“We would like to promote MICE events, and we would also like to invite more Muslim friends to Taiwan,” she said during the Meet Taiwan networking event, which was held at the Pavilion Hotel here on June 17, 2019.
Meanwhile, the Economic Division director of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Malaysia, David Hsu, said there are many Halal certified places in the country for the benefit of Muslim tourists.
“It is not difficult to find Halal certified restaurants in Taiwan. We have at least 57 restaurants with Halal certification in Taipei city, alone, and also other facilities such as mosques and prayer rooms.”
Every year, the Meet Taiwan networking event attracts enterprises and MICE-related agencies from each target country. This year, Meet Taiwan has gathered suppliers representing travel agencies, venues, hotels, city governments, and public relations agencies for roadshows in Southeast Asian countries to introduce Taiwan’s excellent MICE environment via presentations, panel discussions and networking sessions.
