Creating New Opportunities for Industry: New Taipei Helps Manufacturers Pursue Industrial Tourism Transformation

(Taiwan TB News Network / Reporter Sun Yao-chang) New Taipei City - To help New Taipei City's manufacturing industry transform and develop and to build corporate image, the "New Taipei City Industrial Tourism Counseling and Transformation Program" has been continuously promoted since year 98 (2009), with a counseling team providing soft and hard transformation planning such as theme planning, space display, business strategy and marketing promotion, actively counseling New Taipei City factories to transform into "tourism factories" and "industrial culture museums." This year's counseling program accepts applications until November 5, for New Taipei City factories aspiring to transform and join the ranks of industrial tourism.

Director-General of the Economic Development Department Ho Yi-ming stated that to help traditional factories transform toward tourism, the city government was the first in the country to launch all-round transformation counseling services. In addition to the counseling team providing soft and hard transformation planning, it also actively integrates cross-bureau resources for joint marketing, leading tourism factories into the leisure travel market. Each year it promotes light travel activities at tourism factories and links them with school outdoor education and career exploration, facilitating industry-government-academia cooperation, successfully boosting the visibility of tourism factories and shaping brand image, and creating more revenue for operators.

New Taipei City currently has a total of 24 tourism factories and industrial culture museums, with diverse business types and distinctive features. Among them, the century-old sock manufacturer "Wu Fu Yang Sock Story House," the pastry DIY "Saint Mary Danish Bread Manor," and the "Hongzhou Tile Tourism Factory" full of the ceramic culture of the Yingge area won the Ministry of Economic Affairs' Excellent Tourism Factory award; in addition, the Hongzhou Tile Tourism Factory's tile art specialty product "Perfect Ring" and Yu Meiren Maternity Wear's "Full-Month Gift - Baby Clothes Eight-Piece Set - Memory Collection Series Gift Box" were both selected for the 2021 Tourism Factory Festival Top Picks and Artisan Handmade. Through the counseling program, operators are assisted in transforming and shaping their corporate brand image.

The Economic Development Department stated that tourism factories help enterprises deepen their brand culture and transform toward sustainable operations. In addition to preserving industrial value and enhancing visibility, revenue increases by at least 20 percent. This year's counseling transformation program accepts applications until November 5. As long as the industry has educational value, holds a legally registered factory in New Taipei City, and the site intended for industrial tourism development complies with relevant regulations, applications may be submitted. The New Taipei City Government will arrange dedicated personnel to assist in diagnosing and evaluating development conditions.