Hotel ONE

Park Lane by CMP

Park Lane by CMP

Taiwan tourism 'godfather' Stanley Yen tells all: Taichung is truly an amazing city!

Text provided by Taichung Industrial Association (idipc)
Translated by Ann Lee
This article has been edited and is an extract from Stanley Yen's book, "The Future I See".

Taiwan's very own tourism "godfather", equally well-known as Hotel ONE CEO Stanley Yen, is full of praise for Taichung: "Taichung is truly an amazing city--it has a great street scene, lots of great food and sightseeing attractions. Just about everywhere you go, you will find that you spend money but you really get your money's worth. At the same time, Taichung also has all the qualifications for becoming central Taiwan's best tourism spot, due to the convenient ways to travel to and from the city, as well as comprehensive living facilities.

There are an abundant number of hotels and restaurants with special features within the city. One can start exploring local delicacies at Chun Shui Tang, the well-known tea house that started the popular 'bubble milk' tea culture. Another great place to visit for local delicacies is Ken Tu Yuan Tea House--beautifully decorated with a Chinese-style garden setting that is complete with traditional music playing in the background--which is basically a restaurant with a courtyard and houses on four sides. Just as popular are restaurants like Wu Wei Tsao Tang, Shui Wu Chuan, Five Cent Driftwood House, and the trendy Wein Restaurant & Lounge, not to mention the the exotic flair of eateries lining WuQuan West 3rd and 4th streets, and along GongYi Road.

When it comes to leisure-type activities in Taichung, residents and tourists alike can visit places like the Outdoor Amphitheatre, the Fine Arts Museum, Park Lane mall near Civic Square, and Feng Le Sculpture Park, where everyone can enjoy all kinds of musical and cultural performances. Taichung also offers numerous venues for one to enjoy some time for self pampering, including spa chain outlets, body and foot massage parlors and all kinds of health clubs, good for beating the summer heat. This colorful city also has splendid nightlife spots to visit and have a great time at. Topping all these wonderful options for residents and tourists to explore is the well-known National Museum of Natural Science, and the planned Taichung Metropolitan Opera House, designed by famous Japanese architect Toyo Ito and due to open for use in 2009. Taichung city already has all that it takes to become a international metropolis."

In the following extract from Yen's recent best-seller, "The Future I See", he mentions other impressions he has of Taichung:
"Not long ago, [author and social critic] Lung Ying-tai and I invited our mutual Hong Kong friends to Taichung. This group of people included professors, writers, as well as members from the Hong Kong Congress. Through our specially-arranged tour of Taichung, they found that this city was truly an amazing place.

When Hong Kong writer Hsu Yong-xuan returned to her hometown, she posted an article in the newspaper that commented on some of Taichung's theme restaurants: 'This one called Andersen Stories, and others like Pumpkin House, Little Italy, Walnut Factory, and Santorini, were all decorated in a way that made the patrons feel like they were walking into a forest candy house....On top of that, there was the Banquet Restaurant, and others like Shine-Long Chinese Medicines Food, Peach Blossom of California Restaurant, and Joyful Cooking (Huan Xi Shao) Sukiyaki, which all never ceased to amaze me. Going there was like visiting amusement parks.'

Later, I found out that, prior to coming here, my Hong Kong friends had been mostly looking forward to visiting The Lalu in Sun Moon Lake. But, somehow during the three-day trip to Taiwan, they became mesmerized by the variety of restaurants available in Taichung. Every night, we would take them to go see local artists performing folk songs onstage, or take them to a massage parlor to wind down. For two nights in a row, they didn't return to their hotel until 2 a.m., which is why they didn't get to see Sun Moon Lake that time. However, they have decided that they definitely will come back to Taichung again for a second visit.

If Taichung city can come up with a splendid itinerary that focuses on offering tourists Taichung as a main destination for central Taiwan travel, and encourages them to come to Taichung with its metropolitan charm and combines it with other sightseeing spots in nearby cities and counties, it will be a great attraction for tourists from all over the world and give them a reason and desire to visit our city.

Amsterdam has made itself a gateway city for all European cities, and has used various marketing techniques to encourage other European tourists to make a stopover there during their travels. Taichung should be thinking on a similar scale, making an effort to attract all central Taiwan tourists to Taichung city, and making it a stopover city before they continue touring other towns and cities.

As a main tourist spot in central Taiwan, Taichung city needs to locate train stations, high speed rail station, Mass Rapid Transit Stations and bus stops all over the city. There also needs to be a good number of shuttle buses available for passengers to travel to nearby cities and towns nearby, and comprehensive package tours and convenient itineraries that take visitors to other central Taiwan sightseeing spots. All the package tours should arrange for shuttle buses to depart from Taichung city and take visitors to nearby townships, such as a "Taichung, Dakeng, Lukang One-Day Tour", or "Taichung, Sun Moon Lake and Formosan Aboriginal Culture Village, 2-3 day tour", or " Taichung, Jiji and Nantou 2-Day Tour" and "Taichung, Lushan 2-Day Tour".

In this way, tourists can visit all of the nearby townships and sightseeing attractions during the day and, if there are not many options for local accommodations available in those places, they can return to Taichung city the same night and experience Taichung's colorful nightlife culture. A tour package that combines central Taiwan's urban and rural lifestyles will make visitors feel that they have enjoyed a more diverse, abundant itinerary."