1,123 teams register for 'best trip' contest

The United States boasts the largest number of 97 individual participants for the “Best Trip in the World — Taiwan Explorers Wanted” contest, launched by the Tourism Bureau to draw international tourists to Taiwan, who will share their travel experiences with the world as a way of promoting Taiwan as a tourist destination.

Hong Kong came in second with 94 entrants, while Japan and India tied third with 70 hopefuls each, Tourism Bureau officials said.

According to the officials, the contestants come from many countries on five continents, with some hailing from such far-flung places as Iraq, Israel, Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Nigeria.

Anyone is eligible to enter the contest, as long as his or her team has at least two people and as long as at least one team member is not Taiwanese. Registration ended June 30.

Tourism officials said the contestants presented many creative travel itineraries. Among others, two French teenaged boys came up with an itinerary featuring stays at various tourism farms to get first-hand experiences of Taiwan's rural life, while a German couple intends to visit Taiwan on a quest for the most delicious meat and vegetable dumplings, known in Taiwan as jiaozi.

A group of South Korean female college students plan to make a “chase the pop idol” trip to Taiwan, with Fahrenheit — a local boy band — as their prime target.

Meanwhile, a Malaysian team has shown keen interest in Taiwan's indigenous culture and has submitted a plan to visit four aboriginal tribal communities. The team vows to sort out each tribal community's special features or representative songs to serve as theme songs for the videos they will make to record their daily adventures.

A British team pledges to search for hidden travel routes and an Australian couple in their 70s plans to embark on a cycling tour in the southern port city of Kaohsiung and to scale Taiwan's highest mountain, Yushan.

The Tourism Bureau is scheduled to announce July 10 the 50 winning teams that have submitted the best itineraries. Each team will get NT$7,000 (US$212) per day for up to four days, or NT$28,000 in total, to spend on their travels.

The teams must get to Taiwan on their own between July 11 and Aug. 31 to qualify for the travel subsidies, although the bureau will help them obtain special discounts from Taiwanese air carriers.

During their four-day trips, each of the winning 50 teams must upload a short video about their daily adventures, along with a 200-word description, on the official contest Web site.

After their departure, they must upload an 800-word travel note plus a three-to-five-minute video featuring the most exciting parts of their adventures for the second stage of the contest.

The team that generates the most interest online stands the best chance of winning the grand prize — NT$1 million — and a chance to travel around Taiwan for a month in February or March next year, a trip that will be used to promote Taiwan as a top travel destination. The Tourism Bureau is scheduled to announce the winning team by Nov. 15, with the online voting results serving as part of the selection criteria.

Taiwan at present attracts a little less than 4 million visitors per year, much fewer than neighboring countries, even those that are a lot smaller and offer far fewer natural scenic attractions, such as Singapore.

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