The number of premium customers from the Middle East has continued to climb. It is reported that the world-famous Condé Nast Traveler Middle East's 12 pages of in-depth reports and the National Geographic Magazine Israel's general editor who visits Kinmen show battlefield sceneries.
Over the past few years, Taiwan has actively promoted our tourism market for visitors from the Middle East including Israeli tourists. Both 2018 Bay Tourism and 2019 Taiwan Small Town Ramble have received high attention from Middle Eastern tourists that have been confirmed by the visits and inquiries that the Tourism Bureau has received at Taiwan Pavilion of the Travel Fair in the Middle East. Lin Xinren, who is the director of Taipei Representative Office in Singapore and responsible for promoting tourism markets of the Middle East, India, New Zealand, and Australia, states that according to the latest statistics from January to November in 2019, the number of tourists from premium customers from the Middle East, including Israel, in Taiwan has exceeded 20,000 with the growth of 6.66% over the same period in 2018. Besides, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Israel, and Saudi Arabia have all reached double-digit growth.
Particularly, with the strategic supports from the Tourism Bureau of Taiwan and the Emirates, the number of tourists coming to Taiwan from the United Arab Emirates has grown by 25.64%. This year, the Tourism Bureau will establish a Taiwan Tourism Service Office in Dubai to deepen marketing strategies, and the future of premium customers from the Middle East and the Arab market is considered promising.
Lin Xinren says that the general editor of Condé Nast Traveler, Rhea Saran, visited Taiwan at the end of last year. Not only did he visit the National Palace Museum but he also experienced Taiwan's night market culture at the Shilin Night Market and Ximending. Moreover, he was also impressed by Din Tai Fung, other famous snacks, such as chicken fillet, and multicultural food. The general editor of the National Geographic Magazine Israel, Daphne Shlomit Raz, and Photographer Eddie Gerald both visited Taiwan's famous sites last May and even asked for deep exploring Kinmen and its battlefield sceneries.
