Taiwan Targets Group Travel

<I>Taipei</I> - Its growing presence as an economic dragon and the success of the Taipei International Convention Center have given Taiwan the confidence to more aggressively pursue the meetings market. Convention officials are expanding their horizons, and there are new meetings facilities planned for Taipei and Kaohsiung.

"When the Taiwan International Convention Center opened in 1992, it was only 30 percent booked, but now it's 70 percent, said Foster Lin, manager of the center's marketing section. "Fifty percent of the entire meetings market in Taiwan goes to the convention center, bringing in $5 million in business booked last year."

The market is increasing in numbers, but it is also changing.

"In the past, we put lots of emphasis on association meetings, encouraging local organizations to win bids for international conferences," Lin said. "But Taiwan is changing to a high-tech manufacturing center, so now lots of high-tech companies are planning conventions in Taipei. Next year IBM and Intel will meet here. In recent years, there's more awareness of Taiwan, and we've become a player in outbound travel and international capital investments."

CETRA, the China External Trade Development Council, runs the Taipei International Convention Center. The same company also managed the CETRA Exhibition Hall at Taipei Sungshan Domestic Airport until last year, when the government took back that facility for other purposes. To compensate, CETRA plans to build a new exhibition hall in eastern Taipei that will open by the year 2000.

Although Taipei is well supplied with rooms at present, Sherwood Hotels, which operates the Sherwood Taipei, will open a 64-room boutique property, Le Petit Sherwood, to cater to both transient travelers and the convention market (see story). Le Petit Sherwood, located in southeastern Taipei, is expected to begin receiving guests by the end of the year.

Currently the country's only non-hotel convention facility outside of Taipei is in Taichung, but the national government, together with the city of government of Kaohsiung, plans to build a convention and exhibition center in that southern port city.

"Kaohsiung will achieve more importance in the coming years," Lin said, explaining that events in Hong Kong will play a key role in helping the city.

"Now, Taiwan's trade with mainland China passes through Hong Kong, but after July it will no longer do so," he said. "The Taiwanese government is setting up a transit zone for trade with China that will take the place of Hong Kong politically," said Lin. "That transit zone will be located in Kaohsiung in a special transit zone area, through which all goods will pass before being shipped directly to mainland Chinese ports. As a result of this new transit zone, business in Kaohsiung will grow tremendously, and it will need a convention center.