An Exploration of The Marketing And Promotion of Taiwan Tour Bus
Kun Shan University of Technology
Department of Applied English
Dr. Conrad, Karl M.
4910Z010 胡家甄 Hu, Chia Chen
4910Z022 張佩瑜 Chang, Pei Yu
4910Z031 許雅芳 Hsu, Ya Fang
4910z076 翁乃絮 Weng, Nei Shin
4910Z087 潘淑雯 Pan, Shu Wen
January 13, 2006 The Exploration of Marketing and Promotion of Taiwan Tour Bus, 12 January, 2005 Grou2 2-
Table of Contents
1. Preface………………………………………………………………………………1
2. Introduction………………………………………………………………………... 2
3. Content
A. Review of Literature.………………………………………………………… 3
B. Research method………………………………………………………...... 3
C. Presentation of research...……………………………………………………..4
D. Evaluation of Information Sources...………………………………………….8
4. Conclusion.………………………………………………………… ……………..12
5. List of Reference.…………………………………………………… ……...... 13
A. Appendix A of Reference…………………………………………...…….17
The Exploration of Marketing and Promotion of Taiwan Tour Bus, 12 January, 2005 Grou2 3-
Preface Taiwan possesses an abundance and diversity of nature and cultural resources, offering great potential for the development of tourism. The motor coach tour is the most economical and efficient way of group or independent tourists. This would provide another transport option for the independent tourists. From “Doubling
Tourist Arrivals Plan” of TTB (Taiwan Tourism Bureau) planned to set up Taiwan
Tour Bus system and develop forty sightseeing routes in Taiwan. Motor coach tourism is already a very important mode of domestic travel, but there has been little research in this field yet. This study seeks to understand the developing the Taiwan
Tour Bus promotional plan. The main idea of Taiwan Tour Bus is to create a friendly environment for tourists. The TTB has developed forty-three sightseeing bus route at they are generally divided into the route of nature, culture, hot spring and festival.
Each one of journey has all in-one ticket that comprises the transportation, tour guide service and insurance. Moreover, to take part in this package tour not only can provide you a series of discount but also can gain your knowledge by discovering the beautiful Taiwan. In accordance with the “2004 Annual Survey Report on Visitors
Expenditure and Trends in Taiwan1” the report showed clearly Taiwan Festival and
Culture is the top one destination in visitor’s heart. As a result, the goal of this study is to understand tourists’ demand and promote the TTB to more and more tourists by introducing the most important festivals in Taiwan.
1 2004 Annual Survey Report on Visitors Expenditure and Trends in Taiwan A report made from investigation analyze by the Taiwan Tourism Bureau on year 93, the main ideas are focus on the visitors’ motivations, expenditures, feelings and suggestions about Taiwan. There are totally 5,050 people taking part in this survey. The Exploration of Marketing and Promotion of Taiwan Tour Bus, 12 January, 2005 Grou2 4-
Introduction As economic growth and international tourism increases, nowadays the tourism industry has played an important role by upgrading the image of Taiwan to the whole world. In order to attract plenty of foreign visitors that come to our beautiful island, the Taiwan Tourism Bureau has been promoting the “Taiwan Tour Bus “system for the foreign travelers. Taiwan Tour Bus is a convenient new transportation program which cooperated with five private travel agencies. In this way, TTB can provide foreign travelers different kinds of professional tour guides with more than three language capabilities to help them deeply experience Taiwanese culture and scenery.
The main purpose of this study is to introduce the advantages of Taiwan Tour
Bus to foreign travelers and analyze how the government implements their marketing plans in promoting and developing Taiwan Tour Bus. To meet this goal, questionnaires are used to help us to understand the visitors’ recognition of the
Package Tour of Taiwan Tour Bus. In the article, we especially discuss the strategies of product, price, place, and activity and promotion management.
At the end of this project, we present statistical analyses showing strengths and weaknesses, presents this strengthen and weakness of marketing mix strategies from the visitor’s perspective. From this analysis, reasons will cause the problems.
Finally, offering the accurate strategies and visitors’ suggestions for tourism Bureau through the internet to improve our tourism industry.
The Exploration of Marketing and Promotion of Taiwan Tour Bus, 12 January, 2005 Grou2 5-
Literature review
We start by citing a report that demonstrates that Taiwan Tour Bus has already brought many visitors to Taiwan. The bulletin of Tourism Bureau, Ministry of
Transportation and Communications2, announced that Taiwan Tour Bus will be three years old in 2006. After the government put their effort into promoting tourism, numbers of all domestic and foreign tourists have broken previous records. There were a total of one hundred and seventy thousand visitors traveling in Taiwan this year.
On the other hand, the news3 from the internet stated that the tourism minister did not really upgrade Taiwan’s tourism industry,” for the reason, the government will select another tourism minister to make Taiwan’s tourism better. In any case, the numbers of travelers each year have shown that Taiwan Tour Bus system is successful.
Moreover, Taiwan Tour Bus needs all of us to support them by using their service.
Research Method
Our source of information for this study was a survey which should enable people to easily understand the development and promotion of Taiwan Tour Bus.
This survey is the 2004 Annual Survey Report on Visitors Expenditure and Trends in
Taiwan 4 which was produced by Taiwan Tourism Bureau. This questionnaire asks some open-ended questions. They are all about the experience of travel in
Taiwan. The participants were the inbound visitors. The research took place at the tourists travel service offices of C.K.S. International Airport and Kaohsiung
International Airport.
2 The bulletin of Tourism Bureau, Ministry of Transportation and Communications
Presentation of Research
The report of the World Tourism Organization of year two thousand5 showed that tourism will become one of the main methods to help countries to create foreign exchange in the future. Inside the text, the report mentioned three trends of global developing tourism: firstly, to discover more and more new destinations; secondly, to product diversity manufactures, thirdly, to increase competition between destinations.
First , as a member of this world, Taiwan also influenced by the WTO and looks forward to becoming an internationalized well-known country. Fortunately, the
Tourism Bureau created the “Tourists Doubling Plan” in 2004. One of the most important points of this project is the accomplishment of Taiwan Tour Bus transportation system. Although there are one hundred and fifty thousand people6 in
Taiwan, only six percent of Taiwanese used it, many people still never heard of the
Taiwan Tour Bus. For these reasons, this research is to promote Taiwan Tour Bus to both domestic and foreign travelers.
The report of Taiwan Tourism Bureau 2004 pointed out that before the year 2004, the government of Taiwan did not pay much attention to the tourism industry and never tried to figure out why citizens always travel in other countries but not in
Taiwan. Now, however, the situation is totally different, since the government made a decision to develop tourism, and started to make efforts to do so. After a long time planning and researching, they identified found the problems7 in Taiwan’s tourism industry. They are mainly caused by the inconvenient traffic around the scenic spots,
5 The report of World Tourism Organization of two thousand year
According to the report of Taiwan Tourism Bureau year 200410 “The foreign visitors expenditure and motivation in Taiwan” most foreign travelers come from
Japan (25.58%), then, Europe (24.87%) and Southeast Asia (21%). A great percentage foreign travelers considered the scenic and culture of Taiwan are different from other countries. They all have been attracted by the uniqueness of Taiwan. More importantly, to see and experience the diverse culture is the main reason that they
82004 Annual Survey Report on Visitors Expenditure and Trends in Taiwan. 25 November, 2005. 9 Taiwan Tour Bus often offers a series of discount with the Taiwan Travel Card
The Ghost Festival, The International Children’s Folklore Festival12 and Hakka
Gourmet Festival13 are definitely listed in their schedule book. Following are brief introductions of Taiwan festivals which coordinate with Taiwan Tour Bus by taking visitors to experience a series of local customs.
The Lantern Festival14 is on the fifteenth day of the first moon, also know as the second Chinese New Year. On the night of the Lantern Festival, visitors can see children carrying the decorative lanterns depicting birds, flowers, and historical figures; temples are surrounded by these fantastic art works. In order to highlight these art works, many kinds of lantern competitions are held each year. During the competition, lanterns often show a new theme based on the zodiac animal of the year15. The main event of the festival is the Lantern Lighting Ceremony held on the first day of the display with a fusion of color, light, and sound that attracts universal applause from onlookers. The varied customs of Lantern Festival not only can provide visitors rich entertainment, historical-theme lantern displays and riddles, but also instructive stories by expressing ancient wisdom.
11 More importantly, to see and experience the diversity culture is the main reason why they choose to have a trip in Taiwan
Dragon Boat Festival16 is celebrated on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, and is as important as the Chinese New Year and Mid-Autumn Festival. Since summer is a time of disease, Dragon Boat Festival began as an occasion for driving off evil spirits and pestilence. The national Dragon Boat competitions are held island-wide in
Yilan; with the competing teams driving their boats forward rowing to the rhythm of pounding drums.
Next, the Taiwan Tour Bus will take the visitors to join the Ghost Festival17; a big day which starts on the 12th day of the seventh moon. During the Ghost
Festival, Taiwanese believe that ghosts from the underworld regularly come back to the earth to enjoy sacrificial offerings. People pray for salvation from disasters and misfortune by holding rituals and celebrations on the 15th. On that day, it is very interesting to see every family slaughtering a pig and sheep, which are put on the giant red table for the hungry ghosts. Along the Keelung River, visitors can see many kinds of handmade traditional paper houses, shoes and clothes, all of which things are made for the ghosts. Another activity of Ghost Month is “Grappling with the Ghosts”. It is pole-climbing competitions only carried out in Yilan County and
Pingtung County. The pole-climbing are hang to call the ghosts in Taiwan and illuminate the road for those deceased.
Although Taiwan has developed a friendly tourism system, promoting tourism positively was also an important task to Taiwan. Because each tourist has different demands for a tour, the promotion activities of Taiwan Tour Bus18 were divided into
16 Dragon Boat Festival
Bureau of Consular Affairs Ministry of Foreign Affairs of every country. To enhance travel services to visitors, Taiwan Tourism Bureau provides brochures about
Taiwan Tour Bus, a series of guidebooks, a travelogue and newspaper clippings at tourist travel service offices of C.K.S. International Airport and Kaohsiung
International Airport. In addition aiming at the target market, Taiwan Tour Bus provides English and Japanese websites and replaces newest travel information immediately.
In domestic tourism, the traditional culture in Taiwan is diverse and characteristic, and one representative activity is the folk festival. From 2001 Taiwan
Tourism Bureau has selected the top twelve folk festivals20 from each month and publicized them internationally through travel agencies. For domestic travel, Taiwan
Tour Bus added many routes to attract visitors, such as routes of Lantern Festival, route of Taipei Chinese Culinary Exhibition21, and route of flower viewing.
Evaluation of Information Sources
The goal of this study is to understand the marketing and promotion of Taiwan
Tour Bus, which we will hopefully lean to a better understanding of Taiwan Tourism
Bureau how to promote and develop the Taiwan Tour Bus.
According to the2004 Annual Survey Report on Visitors Expenditure and Trends
19 The website of the white paper of tourism
Many visitors like traveling at home and mostly by package tour. In many elder’s opinion, the package tour is economical and convenient than take a trip by individual. In their opinion, they have the economic ability and the vehicle to travel independently. They are also relatively well acquainted with Taiwan, so they think traveling by driving is more fun than taking the Taiwan Tour Bus. However, most young students or social personages like to take Taiwan Tour Bus. They think Taiwan
Tour Bus arranges abundant bus routes very abundant. The tours bring them much fun, but also they don’t need to worry about the problem of transportation inconvenience.
The professional tour guide who is a master in various languages explains the bus routes in detail, particularly with the special project. The above are advantages of
Taiwan Tour Bus, and it is the best choice for young tourists who like to travel.
The government actively promotes the tourism industry actively and the tour information is available. Taiwan Tourism Bureau has set up travel service offices at transportation stations and airports in whole provinces. The booming development of the internet, provides the domestic and international traveler with renewal, faster tour information. According to the 2004 Annual Survey Report on Visitors
Expenditure and Trends in Taiwan, the traveler to the sightseeing information obtains already by advertise originally, the print media, turn to the internet. For these
22 the person-time of domestic tour see the chart one on page The Exploration of Marketing and Promotion of Taiwan Tour Bus, 12 January, 2005 Grou2 12 - reasons, the government made sight-seeing entrance to the internet program, in addition to integrating the tour information, built Chinese, English and Japanese database, and electronics map. By the electronics map that read easily and understand easily, providing the traveler with the fastest tour information, and match with the progress of the information science and technology, making the conversion of tour information become different media can use material.
Moreover, in the aspect of establish the language, tourists suggests for having simplified Chinese guide on the website. The government already opened the diplomacy of visitors from Mainland China can pass in and out Taiwan for sightseeing.
Travelers of Mainland China before come to Taiwan need to collect the information; if website provides simplified Chinese they can search the information on line.
Nowadays, the Taiwanese culture aggressive expansion, establishing Taiwanese and
Hakka are also an important topic. It is not only let the older easily to collect the tour information, but also bring many conveniences to the Hakka that don’t need to be worrying about not understand Chinese.
Some of visitors who like to travel thinking at the government's developments toward tourist industries of Taiwan is very extensively; also few to see have ever invited the well-known entertainer or star as the ambassador expand the tourist industry for Taiwan. In order to promote tourism, strengthen to push the cultural construction, the Taiwan Tour Bus is cooperated with five travel agencies 23 , expanding to enrich the interesting routes, letting the visitors can melt into its fun in the tour. Taiwan Tour Bus provides the bus routes about the tropical trip and historic site and folk culture trip.24
23 Five travel agencies
Now is the flourishing society of the information, the frequency of the usage credit card is very multifarious. Many tourists hopes Taiwan Tour Bus can provide special project25 with the credit card payment either could enjoy the discount or the bonus point. Or the tourists can enjoy the special discount on the price with the student identity card. These proposal are for letting the traveler be able to have a more safe and convenient itinerary. A lot of visitors don’t like to bring too many cashes, credit card has been became the way of payment. Thus it can be seen more and more people who likes to pay with the credit card and it is also the consumption type which changing gradually.
The visitors are also pays attention to the sightseeing environment very much, it is not only influence the visitor's mood but also turn down the visitor's fun. Certainly, the amusement and the problem of the accommodations are also very important.
The visitor pays attention to the problem of the amusement and accommodations, they think these will influence their mood, if there are not carefully considerate and choose the beauty sightseeing spots and the hotel that descends to fall on that day. The
Taiwan Tour Bus is a big evangel to the tourist. However, the tourist complaint seats are too small, if it can be changing a little more spacious that the tourists cannot pick fault with.
Conclusion
Since the government carried out the weekly holiday this project, people increased their recreational time. The times of domestic tour also increases year by year. For the sake of promoting the development of Taiwan tourism and strengthening to push the cultural construction, Taiwan Tour Bus which is run by 5 private travel agencies, expanding abundant and interesting routes, let the visitors
25 special project
Generally speaking, the cost of package tour is higher than the cost of the independent tour, so Taiwan Tour Bus can make people free to choose its bus routes, and have another special measure. Matching with the development of the internet, the official website of Taiwan Tour Bus provides the latest information to the visitors.
The visitor's information to the Taiwan Tour Bus obtains, already by original advertisement, the print media, turn to obtain by the more convenient and internet.
On the Taiwan Tour Bus there are master in multilingual announcers explain the route of that day and the beauty sightseeing spots for the visitors. As a result, the Taiwan
Tour Bus is the best choice for all of the tourists nowadays.
The Exploration of Marketing and Promotion of Taiwan Tour Bus, 12 January, 2005 Grou2 15 -
List of References “Folk Activity.” Taiwan Lantern Festival.
“Moon festival.” Travel Max. 2005. Whatsonwhen Ltd. 19 November, 2005.
Tourism Bureau, Ministry of Transportation and Communications. “Inauguration of Taiwan Tour Bus Service.” Annual Report on Tourism 2003. Tourism Bureau, Ministry of Transportation and Communications, R.O.C. ( Taiwan ). 25 November, 2005 This article is explore the research of the tourism comes to Taiwan. We can according to this article to know the tourism comes to Taiwan and the expense trend.
Tourism Bureau, Ministry of Transportation and Communications. “Inauguration of Taiwan Tour Bus Service.” Annual Report on Tourism 2002. Tourism Bureau, Ministry of Transportation and Communications, R.O.C. ( Taiwan ). 10 November, 2005. This magazine is talk about how many foreigner tourism come to Taiwan and some research about the tour bus in Taiwan. We can found some information we need in this magazine and it’s totally described clearly.
Tourism Bureau, Ministry of Transportation and communications, R.O.C “About Taiwan Tour Bus.” Taiwan Tour Bus. 21 November, 2005.
temperate and frigid zones. In addition to its natural beauty, Taiwan also boasts a fascinating history and diverse and colorful culture that are sure to bring you back again and again.
Tourism Bureau, Ministry of Transportation and communications, R.O.C “The wonderful special project-the tour products of Taiwan Tour bus.” Taiwan Tour Bus. 2005/10/25-2005/12/31. 21 November, 2005.
Tourism Bureau, Ministry of Transportation and communications, R.O.C “ About Taiwan. “ Taiwan Tour Bus. 22 November, 2005.
Tseng, Jui-Wei ( 曾睿偉). “ Motorcoach Tour.“ The Selection Attributes on Domestic Group Tourism – An Example of Motorcoach Tour Market. Dissertation And Thesis Abstract System, 2003.
Tourism Bureau, Ministry of Transportation and Communications. “Taiwan.” Self – Guided Tour Manual. Tourism Bureau, Ministry of Transportation and Communication. December 2001. 11 November, 2005. In regard to tourism information, note that Visitors Centers have been established at every famous scenic spot and important sight-seeing spot, offering those on self-guided tour the helping hand they need.
Tourism Bureau, Ministry of Transportation and Communications, R.O.C. Taiwan The Exploration of Marketing and Promotion of Taiwan Tour Bus, 12 January, 2005 Grou2 17 -
Tourist Pass. Tourism Bureau, Ministry of Transportation and Communications, R.O.C. 13 November 2005. You will find this Pass a valuable reference for travel information and special deals on lodging, transportation, food, shopping and entertainment. There even have special coupon inside the Pass.
Tourism Bureau, Ministry of Transportation and Communications, R.O.C. The Tour Brochure of Taiwan Tour Bus. Tourism Bureau, Ministry of Transportation and Communications, Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China. 13 November, 2005. This handbill has some Taiwan Tour Bus service information. It would introduce the routes of Tour Bus, important sight-seeing in Taiwan and Festival. You can also find many tour agents, the information of each hotel and the travel service.
Tourism Bureau, Ministry of Transportation and Communications, R.O.C. The tour map of South Taiwan ( Chiayi、Tainan、Kaohsiung、Pin-tung、Peng-Hu). Tourism Bureau, Ministry of Transportation and Communications, R.O.C. December 2004. 16 November, 2005. This map could find some routes of Taiwan Tour Bus and which way you could go to your destination. There are some information about national park, festival, outdoor activity, theme park, culture and scenic spot.
Tourism Bureau, Ministry of Transportation and Communications, R.O.C. “Fireworks Festivities.” The Tour Brochure of Taiwan Tour Bus. 2001.12. Tourism Bureau, Ministry of Transportation and Communications, R.O.C. 16 November, 2005. This flyer will give us the information about experiencing the many faces of Taiwanese culture and society. It’s not only introduce hoe to celebrating the traditional way in Modern Times but also the festivities in Taiwan.
Tourism Bureau, Ministry of Transportation and Communications Republic of China. “Taiwan Tour Bus.” The White Paper of Tourism. Tourism Bureau, Ministry of Transportation and Communications Republic of China. 28 November, 2005. We could know about the travel marketing in this article. It’s depart into three parts to talk about the travel marketing.
Yilan Green International Film Festival in Taiwan. The Exploration of Marketing and Promotion of Taiwan Tour Bus, 12 January, 2005 Grou2 18 -
The Exploration of Marketing and Promotion of Taiwan Tour Bus, 12 January, 2005 Grou2 19 -
Appendix A
Figure 1: When do tourists go traveling?
10.90%
national holiday and weekend in normal time 20.90% national holiday
70.10%
*This chart is taken from 2004 Annual Survey Report on Visitors Expenditure and Trends in Taiwan
Figure 2 : The tourism nope to get the information of traveling in their country. In the future.
newspaper 20
TV program and radio station 26
travel agent 30
journal`magazine 33 every 100 people computer and internet 53
0 102030405060
The Exploration of Marketing and Promotion of Taiwan Tour Bus, 12 January, 2005 Grou2 20 -
Figure 3 : The tourism attends the activity.
visit the exposition
massage
hot-spring bath
adventure traveling or natureal traveling
visit the antiquity
go to the night market every 100 people
shopping
0 10203040506070