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From Taiwan★2014 Taipei International Travel Fair: Spotlight on Japanese Entertainment
The "2014 Taipei International Travel Fair" (ITF), featuring tourism-related companies from around the world, was held at the Taipei World Trade Center in November. Japanese inbound tourism companies and local governments also captivated visitors with their dazzling shows, drawing attention for their high entertainment value.
Making its debut appearance by bringing seven robots from Tokyo was Robot Restaurant, where diners can enjoy food and drinks while watching an entertainment show. Opened in 2012, the restaurant's signature attraction is a show blending robots worth approximately 10 billion yen with professional female dancers, proving highly popular with European and American tourists.
Koizumi Takashi from the Robot Restaurant's PR department expressed enthusiasm: "While 80% of our customers are Westerners, our name recognition in Asia is still low. We want to promote our brand starting in Taiwan, where familiarity with Japanese culture is strong and individual tourist visits to Japan are increasing."
Participating for the third time is "Chita Girls," the local mascot of Aichi Prefecture's Chita Peninsula. Representing the Chubu Wide-Area Tourism Promotion Council, composed of municipalities from nine prefectures and three cities in the Chubu and Hokuriku regions, they promoted the area's appeal and also held a workshop to create a sister character, "Taipei Girls." Tomonori Okubo, Chairman of the NPO End Goal, which produces "Chita Girls," said, "Every time, we are overwhelmed by the enthusiastic attention from attendees. We want to bring the Chubu region of Japan and Taiwan even closer together."
Gunma Prefecture also made its debut this year with its own booth. It promoted its rich tourism resources, including the "Old Tomioka Silk Mill," registered as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in June, and "Gunma-chan," which won first place in the "Yuru-Chara Grand Prix 2014" on the 3rd of this month.
The weak yen has increased travel to Japan by affluent Taiwanese, prompting Gunma Prefecture to develop various travel plans. In collaboration with JR East, it is selling special packages for Taiwanese tourists combining stays at four high-end hot spring inns in the prefecture with rail passes. It is also intensifying efforts to promote the Old Tomioka Silk Mill as a destination for Taiwanese school educational trips (school excursions).
Organized by the Taiwan Tourism Association, this year's event featured exhibits from approximately 950 tourism-related companies across 60 countries and regions. Attendance reached a record high of about 340,000 visitors, surpassing last year's 320,000.
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