President Ma Ying-jeou on the morning of May 6 attended the opening ceremonies of the 2011 Kaohsiung International Travel Fair, which is being held by the Kaohsiung Association of Travel Agents. Prior to the opening of the event, the president toured the exhibit area and expressed his best wishes to tourism operators for a successful fair.
The president commented that Taiwan has a lot of beautiful scenery, and the people of Taiwan are hardworking, friendly, enthusiastic, and hospitable, all of which can be capitalized upon to develop Taiwan's tourism industry. President Ma stated that in the three years since his inauguration in May 2008, Taiwan has opened its doors to tourists from mainland China, and has also sought to attract more tourists from elsewhere. The president noted that these efforts have yielded enormous results.
President Ma remarked that there were 3.71 million tourist arrivals here in 2007, but last year that number swelled to over 5.56 million, an increase of 1.85 million visits. The increase in visitors is not just from mainland China, he said, pointing out that growth has been seen from countries throughout the world, including Hong Kong, Macau, Malaysia, and Singapore. In fact, he said, the sharpest increase has been in the number of tourist arrivals from Malaysia. Taiwan has set a goal this year of attracting over 6 million tourist arrivals, and hopes that the number might even reach 6.5 million. In addition, the president remarked that the government anticipates allowing mainland Chinese tourists to travel around Taiwan on their own starting in June. This, he noted, will enable mainland visitors to get a more in-depth look at Taiwan, and will result in more attention being paid to a variety of sites of historical and cultural significance.
President Ma stressed that the foremost considerations in the development of Taiwan's tourism industry are "safety first" and "quality second to none." Besides increased investment and enhanced quality, Taiwan needs to further enrich the content of the tourism experience here, he said. In particular, Taiwan not only has lovely scenery and delicious food, but also has wonderful people. Many visitors sense our friendliness and enthusiasm, he commented, noting that this is a strength for Taiwan in developing its tourist industry, so efforts should be made to preserve these qualities.
The president remarked that Kaohsiung has hot springs, beaches, mountains, and outstanding food, so the area has significant room to further develop from a tourism perspective. President Ma expressed his hope that this International Travel Fair will further promote Kaohsiung's tourism industry. In response to concerns expressed by tourism operators that there are too few direct flights between mainland China and Kaohsiung International Airport, the president explained that currently there are 27 direct flights between Kaohsiung and the mainland, and the average load factor is about 64.5%. He stated that there is room to improve in this regard, but this involves issues of supply and demand. Besides increasing the number of flights, he said, greater demand must be created. President Ma commented that the central and local governments can further cooperate in this area to attract more tourists to Kaohsiung.
After concluding his remarks, President Ma then met at the Ambassador Hotel Kaohsiung with Kiribati President Anote Tong, Nauru President Marcus Stephen, and Tuvalu Prime Minister Willy Telavi, who were invited to Taiwan to participate in the 2011 Sustainable Environmental Development Summit for Pacific Island Countries. The president and the guests briefly exchanged opinions on tourism, travel, and environmental protection topics.