Vice President Annette Lu this morning received an Asia-Africa visiting group of the Cendant Corporation, extending her welcome and gratitude toward the company's help in developing Taiwan's tourism industry by working with Taiwanese enterprises.nnVice President Lu said that the Cendant Corporation is one of the world's most prestigious providers of travel and real estate services and that the company has established agreements with many of the Taiwanese firms. The Cendant Corporation has helped the country reach out to the world and vice versa. The Vice President herself has invested a lot of efforts in reviving Taiwan's tourist industry as travelers to the country, especially the central part of the island, has dropped dramatically after the 921 earthquake.nnVice President Lu noted that although the size of Taiwan is only 1/10000 that of the globe, with its population 367/10000 of the world's population, the island has been covered with mountains, lakes and is surrounded by oceans. Whenever she looks down on the island from an airplane, she gets overwhelmed by the beauty of Taiwan. She said that while Taiwan was under heavy influences of the United States and Japan, it has become more internationalized in recent years. In addition, the fact that Taiwan is home to at least 12 ethnic tribes makes it rich in cultural resources. And there are growing findings identifying Taiwan as the origin of the Austronesian people. The Vice President thanked the Cendant Corporation for forming alliances with Taiwanese enterprises as it connects Taiwan with the rest of the world. She said that Taiwan – with about seven million people traveling worldwide every year – is ranked as the top three countries whose nationals have traveled abroad, and some three million tourists have visited Taiwan as of November since the beginning of this year. The Vice President said that about 13 kinds of cultures and religions have thrived in Taiwan and that plutons of the Penghu islands have been listed by the United Nations as the world's precious natural resources. The Vice President hopes that the Cendant Corporation will include Taiwan as its target market and invest in Taiwan's hotels and holiday resorts, so Taiwan's tourism industry can be fully developed.