Led by Health and Welfare Minister Chen Shih-chung, the five key officials of Taiwan’s principal disease prevention team visited Tainan last weekend on May 30 and 31. For the first day, they visited CHIMEI Museum and Guohua Street, took the double-decker bus, and toured Anping Port by boat along the canal. On the second day, the delegation visited Wanpi Safari Zoo, Baihe Lotus Flower Park, and Jianshanpi Reservoir (Jiangnan Resort). Large crowds of Tainan residents greeted Minister Chen and his team wherever they went.
Minister Chen enjoyed his two-day visit and thanked the citizens of Tainan for their great hospitality. He also praised the city for its excellent effort in working closely with the central government and in manufacturing and providing disease prevention commodities for the nation, including face masks and ethyl alcohol. Tainan City Mayor Huang Wei-che, in return, expressed his gratefulness to Minister Chen and his CECC colleagues. Mayor Huang would like to invite more friends to Tainan, reassuring the public that both the city government and tourism businesses are ready to hosts mew waves of tourists.
During this short two-day visit, the CECC officials tasted various local delicacies, including steamed crab with sticky rice, fried shrimp roll, stir-fried eel, milkfish porridge, danzai noodle, fish skin soup, mined pork over rice, and beef soup. Minister Chen and his team also sported outfits curated by Tainan City Government officials and crafted by local Tainan designers, including a black-faced spoonbill shirt and milkfish bag worn by Minister Chen and provided by Hermin Textile. The CECC team members also sported a number of eye-catching items, including the vintage shirt by HAYASHI Department Store, canvas bag by HER CHERNG, backpack by Houbi Wumiler Community’s Gagi Studio, and hat by Shelin’s Rush Workshop. All of these items are now available for purchase.
According to statistics provided by the Bureau of Tourism, the number of visitors to Tainan increased significantly compared to that during the Tomb Sweeping Day long weekend. Hotel occupancy rates reached around 80 percent, a figure that is at least 50 percentage points higher than during regular weekends. Aligned with the “new disease prevention lifestyle,” both the city government and tourism-related businesses in Tainan are ready to gradually open up to visitors with disease prevention and control measures fully in place. In the future, the city is looking to roll out more tourism campaigns with local businesses to promote Tainan as the top tourism destination for all visitors to enjoy.