Chiayi County's High-Heel Church Welcomes ASEAN Guests: New Southbound Policy Successfully Boosts Tourism

To align with the government's New Southbound Policy, Taiwan opened visa-free entry for Thailand in August last year. To expand new sources of international tourists, domestic travel industry operators specially called on private charter flight tourism operators to bring a Thai group to Chiayi on the 13th during Songkran. When County Magistrate Zhang Huaguan arrived at the High-Heel Church to welcome them, she invited the foreign visitors to tour the High-Heel Church, Dongshi Fisherman's Wharf, Alishan Forest Recreation Area and other famous distinctive attractions in Chiayi, boosting tourism prosperity in Chiayi and the Yunlin-Chiayi-Tainan area.

County Magistrate Zhang Huaguan pointed out that this was the first group of 6 chartered flights, and the more than 300 Southeast Asian tourists all liked Chiayi's scenery very much, especially the local new immigrant performance group in Dongshi and the indigenous performance at Alishan, which together presented Chiayi's multicultural characteristics to Southeast Asian travelers. Through tourism, the ASEAN countries whose economies are taking off can see Taiwan and see Chiayi.

Xu Zhenneng, Director of the Yunlin-Chiayi-Tainan Coastal Scenic Area Administration, said that it was the first visit to attractions in the Yunlin-Chiayi-Tainan Coastal Scenic Area for the ASEAN group tourists. To let ASEAN tourists experience an abundance of Taiwanese flavor, the banquet at the High-Heel Church specially prepared local snacks for the visitors, giving tourists a different new Taiwanese taste experience while celebrating Songkran in Taiwan.