Tourism Administration reveals new travel slogan

GLOBAL:
The slogan would be advertised in popular tourist destinations in North America and Europe, such as Champs-Elysees and Times Square, the agency said

• By Shelley Shan / Staff reporter

“Taiwan: Waves of Wonder” is to be the country’s new tourism slogan for the next 10 years, the Tourism Administration said yesterday, adding that it would be showcased in commercials at the Olympic Games in Paris and other major cities and travel fairs around the world.

The new slogan, logo and theme song, which were unveiled at a news conference in Taipei, marked the agency’s latest effort to attract 10 million international visitors to Taiwan this year, a goal that it readjusted earlier this year, as China has yet to lift its travel ban to Taiwan.

The administration created the “Taiwan: Touch Your Heart” slogan in 2001 and rebranded to “Taiwan: the Heart of Asia” in 2011.

The new slogan was created to market Taiwan as a travel destination in the post-COVID-19 era, administration Director-General Chou Yung-hui (周永暉) said.

“Taiwan is a diverse and beautiful place, and would surely bring waves of wonder to tourists with its mountains and seas,” he said. “The slogan is to be publicized in major cities and travel fairs around the world, and we will work with local tourism officials in Taiwan to promote tours in different regions around the nation.”

The administration aims to use the slogan to promote tours to Taiwan by showcasing it on the Champs-Elysees in Paris during the Summer Olympic Games, Chou said.

The slogan would also be advertised at other popular tourist destinations and transport hubs in North America and Europe, including Times Square in New York and train stations in Frankfurt, Germany, he said.

Ads containing the slogan would be broadcast in Osaka, Japan, when the city hosts the World Expo next year, as well as in Southeast Asian nations, Chou said.

The administration also plans to increase the budget for the next fiscal year by nearly NT$200 million (US$6.18 million) to boost tourism marketing efforts, he added.

The new tourism logo was designed by Bito Studio founder and creative director Liu Keng-ming (劉耕名), who received the Presidential Innovation Award last month.

The design was inspired by the sea, rolling mountains, meandering highways and railways that people see when they travel around Taiwan. Like the previous two logos, the new one is orange to convey the warmth and vitality of Taiwanese.

The new theme song was created by Chris Hou (侯志堅), who has won Golden Melody, Golden Horse and Golden Bell awards for the music he has produced for singers, movies and TV series.

In other news, the administration defended its use of Weibo, WeChat and Xiaohongshu (小紅書, Little Red Book) to promote tours to Taiwan in China, saying that it must be done, because Beijing has been blocking people from accessing Facebook, Instagram and other US-based social media.

Its use of Chinese social media was scrutinized yesterday by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) politicians, who asked why the Democratic Progressive Party government paid a huge sum to promote tours on Chinese platforms they deem a threat to national security.

The administration said it has been promoting tours on its Sina Weibo and WeChat accounts since 2011 and 2014 respectively, and plans to open a Xiaohongshu account this year.

“Countries seeking to attract young travelers from China, such as Japan, South Korea and Thailand, all have accounts on popular Chinese social media,” it said. “The content that we put on these platforms are travel destinations in Taiwan and special offers that are available for travelers, and have nothing to do with politics.”