Taiwan develops digital tourism: Mazu Pilgrimage + Alishan + Sun Moon Lake

In response to the development of tourism in the post-epidemic era, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC, 交通部) has launched the "Smart Tourism Taiwan" (智慧觀光虛實整合平台)  and selected the Mazu Pilgrimage (媽祖遶境), Alishan (阿里山) and Sun Moon Lake National Scenic Areas (日月潭國家風景區) as representative sites to conduct demonstrations of digital transformation of Taiwan's tourism. At the same time, they will promote the integration of virtual and real platforms for smart tourism, and hope that the concept of social co-creation will bring out an environment for online sharing, so that more people can use the resources of the platform to create more 360-degree videos.

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The Mazu pilgrimage is the first representative of Taiwan digital tourism. Photo/Retrieved from the Smart Tourism Platform

The MOTC pointed out that during the epidemic in Taiwan, people's life, employment and consumption habits have rapidly changed. Online shopping, experience, and consumption will become common in the future. The traditional tourism market must adjust in advance and think of strategies for the future. The MOTC also preferentially selects the Mazu Pilgrimage, one of the top ten religious activities in the world, and the Alishan and Sun Moon Lake National Scenic Areas, which most often represent impressions of Taiwan, as demonstration sites for the digital transformation of domestic tourism.

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Alishan and Sun Moon Lake represent impressions of Taiwan. Photo/Retrieved from Lion Travel

In addition, the current platform can provide virtual reality videos of activities and scenic spots such as the Mazu Pilgrimage, Alishan, and Sun Moon Lake for the tourism industry using image capture and value-added applications. Many local companies are planning to capture platform image resources to design their tourist itineraries. This is to prepare for the new kind of post-epidemic tourism by the end of 2021, and the Tourism Bureau (觀光局) will also prepare for the expansion of applications of various scenic spots in the future.