★

☉Next Shark, Yahoo news, 2022-9-24: Taiwan announced its plan to remove inbound quarantine for international arrivals by Oct. 13.  The government stated that it would also increase the weekly quota for arrivals from 50,000 to 60,000 by Sep. 23. Tourists who qualified for visa-free access before the pandemic are now allowed to visit the island without a visa.   news.yahoo.com/japan-taiwan-hong-kong-lift-215712514.html
☉Reuters, 2022-9-5: the resumption of visa free entry for visitors from the United States, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Europe and diplomatic allies would start from next Monday   news.yahoo.com/taiwan-resume-visa-free-entry-063459045.html?fr=sycsrp_catchall
☉Washington Examiner, 2022-8-26: China's temper tantrum over House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taiwan seems to have sparked a mini-boom in congressional tourism toward the island.  washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/op-eds/seventy-year-lie-china-has-never-had-a-serious-claim-to-taiwan
☉NY Times, 2022-8-18: Taiwanese cuisine — layered, distinct, multiethnic ...has been shaped by many cultural forces, including the island's Indigenous tribes,  long-established groups of Fujianese and Hakka people; Japanese ;  Chinese immigrants in 1949+...   nytimes.com/2022/08/16/dining/taiwanese-cuisine.html
☉United Daily, Economic Daily News, editorial,  2022-9-10: Three mail problems of local tours: (1) transportation (particularly for those newly found hidden scenic spots), (2) catering and accommodation (few local government can properly guide tourists by such as star-rating, therefore lots of traps are out there),(3) a small country has no many natural attractions  udn.com/news/story/7338/6601661?from=udn-catehotnews_ch2

★★

World Economic Forum (WEF)  <Travel and tourism competitiveness report> released at 9-4-2019
   Taiwan's travel & tourism  -  ranks 10th in Asia    

category	Taiwan's rankings and/or score	comparison
prioritization of travel and tourism	No75	Singapore No.6 ,  Hong Kong No. 11
Natural & cultural resources	No.58  score 2.6	China  No.1, score 6.0 , France No.2,  5.0,  Spain  No.3, 5.7,   Japan No.7, 5.3,   Indonesia No.18,  Thailand No.21,  Korea No.24,  Vietnam No.26,  Malaysia No.31,  HK No.40,  Philippines No.46,  Sri Lanka No.52,  Nepal No.56
Natural resources	No. 87	Hong Kong No. 42, Singapore No.120
cultural resources & business travel	No. 36  score 2.6	China No1, score 7.0
price competitiveness	No. 78	China 5.7
Health & Hygiene	No.43,  score 6	score worse than Korea, Japan, Mongolia
international openness	No. 60	only better than China, Mongolia
Safety & security	No. 26	human resource & labor market: Taiwan No.18

★

★★ South China Morning Post, 2022-7-13: many Taiwanese are ‘protecting themselves’ by shunning what are normally some of the most crowded spaces, and the trend continues to keep pressure on tourism operators  scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3185049/how-taiwans-tourism-industry-surviving-its-biggest-ever-covid

★★ National Geographic, 2022-7-6: Japanese filmmaker Hayao Miyakazi denies that Jiufen (Taiwan) was an inspiration, but many have drawn a connection between the town’s ... resemblance to the settings in the 2001 film Spirited Away (《千與千尋》,《神隱少女》,（日语：千と千尋の神隠し）, an Oscar-winning animated feature).   nationalgeographic.com/travel/article/exploring-the-magic-of-taiwans-spirited-away-city

★★ National Interest, 2022-6-16: The CCP has used import and tourism bans to inflict pain upon Taiwan’s economy...
★★ DW, 2022-5-20: Taiwan's tourism industry in crisis (Taiwan 'is not ready to face an outbreak at this level) dw.com/en/is-taiwan-learning-to-live-with-covid/a-61878438

★★ Asia Nikkei (Japan), 2022-6-2:  Taiwan's lengthy success in keeping out COVID-19 is complicating the island's path away from a pandemic posture as a relaxation of travel curbs fuels a record spike in cases; Taiwan ranks world no. 113 in Nikkei's CovID-19 Recovery Index.   asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/Coronavirus/Taiwan-s-COVID-success-story-hits-snag-with-shift-to-reopening

★★ New York Times, 2022-5-9: The island risks losing out on tourism and investment by staying closed.  Taiwan is now moving from Zero Covid.  Restaurants, bars and gyms that were once packed are now noticeably quieter...fear of outbreaks is not uncommon nytimes.com/2022/05/09/world/asia/taiwan-china-covid.html

★★ CDC (USA), 2022-5-18: Taiwan travel Level 3 -   Even if you are up to date with your COVID-19 vaccines, you may still be at risk for getting and spreading COVID-19, Anyone 2 years or older should properly wear a well-fitting mask in indoor public spaces  (wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/notices/covid-3/coronavirus-taiwan)
★★ aljazeera, 2022-4-14: Taiwan's COVID-hit tourism stews as island shuns global reopening. 

　

2021  Michelin stars  comparisons among Asian countries
Michelin cities	number of 3 stars	num. of 2 stars	number of 1 star	total num.
Tokyo (Japan)	12	42	158	212
Hong Kong	10	18	59	87
Kyoto (Japan)	7	19	84	110
Osaka (Japan)	3	12	81	96
Singapore	3	5	41	49
Seoul (Korea)	2	7	34	43
Shanghai (China)	1	10	32	43
Taipei (Taiwan)	1	7	21	29

　
　

♣  To emergently rescue dying tourism, Taiwan spent huge money to have <Michelin Guide> Taipei 　 　 　 pic.: China Times - Want Weekly, No.185: To emergently save dying tourism, Taiwan government spent NT90,000,000 (USD3 millions) to have <Michelin Guide> in Taiwan.  　 ●  Compare to Chinese world -  Shanghai, HK, Macao, Singapore: 　 Michelin Guide 2018 3 star 2 star 1 star num. of stars Bib Gourmand Hong Kong, Macau 　 8 16 57 81 82 Singapore  jun'17 1 7 30 38 38 Shanghai  sept'17 2 6 22 30 26 Taipei  1 2 17 20 36

　

main attractions for tourists

♣  MSN, 2022-9-12   https://msn.com/en-us/travel/tripideas/these-are-the-10-top-rated-tours-to-take-in-taiwan/ar-AA11Kmly ☉(1) Jiufen Village And Northeast Coast Tour From Taipei ☉(2) Taipei Street Food & Night Market Tour With A Local ( Yanshan Night Market,etc) ☉(3) Private Night Tour Of Taipei ( historic Dalongdong Baoan Temple, Taipei 101,etc) ☉(4) 5-Day Best Of Taiwan: Sun Moon Lake, Tarako Gorge, Kaohsiung, Taitung ☉(5) Taipei City Tour With National Palace Museum Ticket ( National Palace Museum, Chiang Kai Shek Memorial, and the Martyr's Shrine.) ☉(6) Yehliu Geopark And Keelung Harbor Guided Tour From Taipei ☉(7) The 10 Tastings Of Taipei With Locals: Private Street Food Tour ☉(8) Tea Of Taipei: Small-Group Tour With Taipei City Sightseeing ☉(9) Thousand Island Lake And Pinglin Tea Plantation From Taipei ☉(10) 4-Hour Morning Cycling Tour In Taipei ☉ 　 ♣ Insider (Jun. -2015) introduced some places for tourists:     ◎  Hehuan Mountain and Ali Mountain are two top-rated scenic spots on TripAdvisor. (阿里山等)    ◎  Sun Moon Lake(日月潭)      ◎ Kenting National Park(墾丁).   9 nationall. parks, which make up 8.6% of its land.  Taroko National Gorge (太魯閣) alone is worth spending at least two days hiking its numerous scenic trails.     ◎ hot springs Beitou outside of Taipei, and Jiaoxi in Yilan (北投宜蘭等溫泉) ♣ small eats (in night markets...) :  In a high-cost advertisement promoted by Taiwan government, you can see commercial endorser Japanese star 木村拓哉(きむらたくやKimura Takuya) keep eating "small eats" ... ♣ other tourist attractions: Taipei 101, National Palace Museum, Jiufen,  Ximending taipei, Chiang Kai-shek Mem. Hall,  Chingshui Cliff Hualien,

　

Taiwan's tourism & travel    vs.    CovID-19
◆ Reuters, 2022-9-5: the resumption of visa free entry for visitors from the United States, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Europe and diplomatic allies would start from next Monday   ◆  Washington Post, 2022-6-2:   a poll this week found that 70 percent of Taiwanese wanted the government to retain stricter border control policies.    washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/06/02/taiwan-covid-relaxed-border-policy/
◆ Diplomat, 2022-2-3:Taiwan, is bucking the trend and is one of the few places still sticking with its zero-COVID strategy.thediplomat.com/2022/02/how-long-will-taiwan-stick-to-its-zero-covid-approach/ ◆ The Guardian, 2021-11-8: Cost of Taiwan’s pursuit of Covid zero starts to show   In 2019 there were more than 29 million international arrivals in Taiwan. In 2020, during the height of the pandemic and prior to vaccines, the figure dropped to 3.9 million. So far this year there have been just 335,000.“Taiwan sacrificed international collaboration in commerce and exchange.”despite the toll on tourism, trade and lifestyle there is no plan to reopen   theguardian.com/world/2021/nov/08/how-long-can-you-maintain-it-cost-of-taiwans-pursuit-of-covid-zero-starts-to-show	◆ New York Times, 2021-10-29: China is now the only country still chasing full eradication.  The approach is unsustainable.  China may find itself increasingly isolated, diplomatically and economically, at a time when global public opinion is hardening against it. 　 ◆ Economist, 2021-10-9 :  Asian countries are abandoning zero-covid strategies.  Despite the risks, they are right to do so.  Yet those with a good first act in the pandemic are struggling in the second.
◆  aljazeera, 2021-11-26: Taiwan continues to pursue an isolationist "zero CovID-19" policy.  Taiwan's border restrictions remain some of the strictest in the world. ◆  aljazeera, 2021-11-17 (brief): Asia's cautious stance is increasingly at odds with Europe and North America; mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong sink deeper into isolation under a strict “zero COVID” policy, even Japan, South Korea, Australia, Singapore and Malaysia are following a middle path under which non-essential travel remains tightly restricted.

★★ New York Times, 2022-3-5: Since Tuesday, people in Taiwan have no longer been required to wear masks in settings where they were previously mandatory, both indoors and outdoors: exercising, taking selfies and group photos, driving with household members, in spas and in video broadcasts, speeches and lectures... Taiwan's record (20,717 cases and 853 deaths ) is low by the standards of the hardest-hit countries.  nytimes.com/live/2022/03/05/world/covid-19-tests-cases-vaccine
★★《BBC》, 2021-12-15: Until the 1990s, hiking in Taiwan was seen as more of a fringe sport, since large swaths of the mountains were off-limits during the country's 38-year-period of martial law, which ended in 1987. As the island embraced democracy in the 1990s, the mountains were opened to the public and hiking became more widespread.   Can Taiwan become Asia's next great hiking destination?     bbc.com/travel/article/20211213-can-taiwan-become-asias-next-great-hiking-destination
★★《Yahoo Taiwan》, 2021-11-23:  all opposition parties blast the government not fulfilling its promise to patch the loophole of social security network.  《Next TV news 壹新聞》, 2021-11-23, 12:11: a big loophole in our social security net.