The Tourism Administration said yesterday that “Waves of Wonder” will serve as the nation’s new tourism motto for the next ten years. It also added that the term would be included in advertisements during the Olympic Games in Paris as well as in other major cities and travel fairs worldwide.
The agency’s latest attempt to bring 10 million foreign tourists to Taiwan this year was celebrated by the unveiling of a new slogan, emblem, and theme music at a news conference in Taipei. This objective was reassessed earlier in the year because China has not yet lifted its travel ban on Taiwan.
In 2001, the government came up with the tagline “Taiwan: Touch Your Heart,” which was changed to “Taiwan: the Heart of Asia” in 2011.
The new tagline was developed to promote Taiwan as a tourism destination in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Director-General of Administration Chou Yung-hui (周氃暉).
“With its mountains and seas, Taiwan is a diverse and beautiful place that would surely bring waves of wonder to tourists,” the man stated. “The slogan will be promoted in major cities and travel fairs worldwide, and we will collaborate with Taiwanese tourism officials to promote tours in various regions of the country.”
According to Chou, the administration wants to use the slogan to draw attention to travel to Taiwan by displaying it on the Champs-Elysees in Paris during the Olympic Summer Games.
According to him, the catchphrase will also be promoted at other well-known tourist spots and transportation hubs in North America and Europe, such as Frankfurt, Germany’s rail stations, and Times Square in New York.
According to Chou, advertisements with the tagline will air in Southeast Asian countries as well as in Osaka, Japan, when the city holds the World Expo in 2019.
To strengthen tourism marketing initiatives, the administration also intends to raise the budget by around NT$200 million (US$6.18 million) for the upcoming fiscal year, he continued.
Liu Keng-ming (劉耕名), the founder and creative director of Bito Studio, who was awarded the Presidential Innovation Award last month, created the new tourism logo.
The sea, undulating mountains, winding railroads, and highways that travellers through Taiwan observe served as inspiration for the design. Similar to the first two logos, this one uses orange to represent Taiwanese warmth and vibrancy.
The composer of the new theme tune, Chris Hou (捯志堅), has composed music for singers, films, and TV shows and has earned Golden Melody, Golden Horse, and Golden Bell honours.
In other news, Beijing has been preventing individuals from accessing Facebook, Instagram, and other US-based social media, so the administration justified its use of Weibo, WeChat, and Xiaohongshu (小紅書, Little Red Book) to advertise visits to Taiwan in China.
Legislators from the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) reviewed its use of Chinese social media yesterday, questioning why the government of the Democratic Progressive Party paid a substantial amount of money to promote tours on Chinese platforms that they believe pose a threat to national security.
According to the administration, it has been advertising trips on WeChat and Sina Weibo since 2014 and 2011, respectively, and it intends to launch a Xiaohongshu account this year.
According to the report, “countries like Japan, South Korea, and Thailand that aim to draw in young Chinese tourists all have accounts on popular Chinese social media.” “We do not post political content on these platforms; instead, the content we post features travel destinations in Taiwan and exclusive traveller offers.”
