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Updated Wednesday, February 8, 2012 0:03 am TWN, The China Post news staff

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To improve tourism, Taiwan should focus on the little things

In December of last year, a South Korean housewife became the year's 6 millionth foreign national to arrive in Taiwan as a tourist. The number of international tourists hit an all-time high last year as visitors from China and all over the world flocked to check out Taiwan, described by some tourist publications as “Asia's best-kept secret.”

Not only are people from abroad coming here to see the sights, more foreign nationals are moving to Taiwan, with a recent report from the Central News Agency claiming that as of last year, 648,000 foreign passport holders — excluding citizens of the People's Republic of China — now reside in Taiwan, an increase that represented a year-on-year growth of over 9 percent.

Speaking last week, President Ma Ying-jeou pledged that his government will strive to improve Taiwan's “overall travel quality,” with the goal of seeing 10 million foreign arrivals per year until 2016. “Taiwan is relatively young in the global tourism market,” the president said. “Even as we seek quantitative growth, we must also make qualitative improvements in both infrastructure and services.”

Ma noted that there has been significant investment in the local tourism industry since his first term began, with some NT$300 billion spent on upgrading tourism facilities, but of course the president is correct that there is more to be done. The Ministry of Transportation and Communications has singled out creating a better and more comprehensive transportation network as a goal for the near future, and some of these improvements will include better air links between regional city airports which would help Taiwan become a travel hub for the East Asian area.

But there are also less grand improvements that will need to be made if Taiwan is make serious inroads as a tourism destination for foreign visitors. Among the first project that should be undertaken is a major revamp of signs. When foreign tourists visit Western Europe, Australia or the United States, many rent a vehicle and explore. If these visitors read English, for the most part they can find their way around by simply following signs and reading maps. In Taiwan however — even in the capital city Taipei — road signs are not particularly clear. Signs are too small, difficult to understand, ill-placed and could generally benefit from some expert attention. Outside of northern Taiwan there are even fewer English signs and in some places streets don't have signs at all.

When visitors do make it to various sites of interest, they may also notice that there are frequently few signs giving information on the background and history of the place they're visiting.

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Comments

February 13, 2012 robert_m_ellis@

I find it very funny that you think the main problem that foreigners have with driving in Taiwan is street signs. While I do agree that street signs are a problem, many of them would never drive here if the street signs were perfect because Taiwanese people are terrible drivers. The whole system of driving in Taiwan needs to be changed, from the driving school (Which teaches you how to get your license but not how to drive) to the city planning. After that we can also work on Taiwanese politeness and how dirty it is here.

February 16, 2012 elumpen@

Completely agree with robert_m_ellis, and I'm amazed (considering the loud and constant complaints of tourists and foreign residents) that the gov't still has no interest at all in improving road safety.

Improvements in the general environment, for the benefit of locals, are also improvements for tourists. There is really no distinction to be made.

February 17, 2012 mpallard@

Ridiculous article.

The lack of English road signs has nothing to do with why foreigners do not drive in Taiwan.

The lack of driver training and enforcement mean that the Taiwanese must rank as some of the most dangerous people on the road. Like most of Taiwan's problems this one is also a software issue and will not be solved by putting up a few new signs.

February 18, 2012 nutty_azn@

I don’t understand the comments!!
How many accidents do you see a day in the city, pile ups, road Deaths? Compare that with those from any major city from your country and then comment.
I would say Taiwanese are great drivers, at least better than you.
Just because you do not have the ability to drive here does not mean that the Taiwanese drive badly and have to change.
I have had friends come here from Singapore and Malaysia, hire cars and drive all over the Island with kids and Grand Parents in tow and have had no complaints!!
In fact they all had praises for the Taiwanese people all over for lending assistance when they were lost, need advice etc as being very friendly, helpful and courteous.

February 19, 2012 in.sanxia@

Tourists are afraid to drive, or cross the street, because Taiwan police do not enforce existing laws. Pedestrians are targets of taxi drivers. Local police are lazy and/or afraid. Also, most women who have visited Taiwan complain about the dirty public restrooms- there is no mention of street signs. Hire a few foreign travel experts to review and fix the problems. Wake-up. Ma, you lived in the States and you know what to expect.

February 19, 2012 teknikal_pan@

The lack of a standardized Romanization system means signs outside of Taipei are 亂七八糟 ﹣a complete mess.

But if you you're bright enough to figure out that "Xindian," "Hsientien" and Sindian are the same place, then you won't have too many problems.

Chinglish, meanwhile, is an integral part of the signage landscape on both sides of the Taiwan Strait.

Taiwan doesn't need to go on a tourism infrastructure construction binge. That would do little to improve the lives of residents and go a long way to ruin the island's charm. A place like Penghu or Kenting is lovely because it's unspoiled. You don't need five star hotels when you have nice 民宿。

The last thing it wants is to become like Hainan.

February 20, 2012 piawliangjohny@

See, they need tourists like takeru and makiyo. Taxi drivers are lining in front of many hotel lobbies to get passenger like them. Tourists or overseas locals come to stay or look around and some misbehave and are disrespectful. Taiwan is a lawful country, any violence they commit, please report to the authorities ASAP. We have a lot of POLICE precincts in many corners. We citizens should also do our part to maintain a clean and respectful environment. Taiwan is safer than many other parts of the world.

February 20, 2012 curtisakbar@

True, driving standards suck and the further south you go, the worse it gets. I have been in Taidong and Kaohsiung and have had lorries and mini-buses driving down the wrong side of the road towards me. In Taipei you only get scooters lol. But seriously, if Taiwan wants to be a tourist hot spot, it needs to get clean. People only visit China for its history, people go to Thailand for adult fun. You take these two things away and people wouldn't go, as they would see how dirty it is. A country like Palau, Fiji or any other beach resort makes its money by having a clean and safe environment. That is what Taiwan needs to do. Clean up Kending, Fulong, Sanzhi and all the other places like Sun Moon Lake, Taroko trail. I'm fed up with seeing all the empty Taiwan beer cans, 7-11 food boxes etc everywhere. Love Taiwan, Keep it CLEAN!

February 20, 2012 Hermank@

I for one would appreciate better signs. As a non Chinese reading driver I think better signs would be beneficial for many in the foreign community. As for teaching better driving, that's a task that will take a generation or more. Better signs could be completed in a year, better driving will require a long term commitment to education as well as a major upgrade in law enforcement. I always appreciate practical ideas that can be quickly implemented.

February 22, 2012 michael_friend99@

robert_m_ellis@ wrote:
I find it very funny that you think the main problem that foreigners have with driving in Taiwan is street signs. While I do agree that street signs are a problem, many of them would never drive here if the street signs were perfect because Taiwanese people are terrible drivers. The whole system of driving in Taiwan needs to be changed, from the driving school (Which teaches you how to get your license but not how to drive) to the city planning. After that we can also work on Taiwanese politeness and how dirty it is here.

The drivers in Taiwan do not think of driving safe. Have them take their driving test on the road. In Iraq the road signs are in Arabic. I felt safer driving in Iraq. This should sum it up. I would rather drive in Iraq then Taiwan. After being hit twice by other drivers, I will get a hip replacement next year. Thank you Taiwan.

February 22, 2012 ludahai_twn@

teknikal_pan@ wrote:
The lack of a standardized Romanization system means signs outside of Taipei are 亂七八糟 ﹣a complete mess.

But if you you're bright enough to figure out that "Xindian," "Hsientien" and Sindian are the same place, then you won't have too many problems.

Chinglish, meanwhile, is an integral part of the signage landscape on both sides of the Taiwan Strait.

Taiwan doesn't need to go on a tourism infrastructure construction binge. That would do little to improve the lives of residents and go a long way to ruin the island's charm. A place like Penghu or Kenting is lovely because it's unspoiled. You don't need five star hotels when you have nice 民宿。

The last thing it wants is to become like Hainan.

The urban core of Taichung has become standardized in its Romanization. There are few variations in the eight pre-merger districts in the city.

February 25, 2012 curtisakbar@

I still find it funny, on some junction on Lin Jing road on the way to Yonghe there's a junction on one side it says 'Jhonghe road' and the other side of the junction it says 'Zhonghe road'. I think it's funny that you can see both signs and nobody thought there was a problem.