Department of Information and Tourism, Taipei City Government

-- 2006-05-12 --

The Taipei City Government Department of Information held a press conference for the release of the new book “Insight City Guide: Taipei” at City Hall on May 12. Mayor Ma Ying-jeou remarked that this is a monumental event for placing Taipei on the map of international tourism.



The “Insight City Guide: Taipei” is a collaboration between Taipei City Government and APA publications. The book, published and edited by the Singaporean publishing firm, took an entire year in the making, and is the very first guidebook in this series introducing Taipei. The book will be available at Page One, Eslite, and Kingstone Books.



During his address at the press conference, Mayor Ma noted that in the past, there has never been a specialized guidebook for the city of Taipei, unlike major international cities where travelers can easy find and purchase a guidebook. However, with the new “Insight City Guide: Taipei,” the scene will be quite different from now on: Taipei is now officially on the “map” of international tourism!



Ma noted that Taiwan is a country which has many potential in developing its tourism industry. Unfortunately, this area has not been given much attention. However, there are more and more tourists from Japan, with numbers reaching 1.12 million in the year 2005. The second biggest group of tourists – from Hong Kong – totals to less than 200,000. He sees the potentials of tourist from the People’s Republic of China, and suggests that the guidebook could have both Japanese and Chinese versions.



According to the Mayor, one of Taipei’s characteristics is its combination of the old city with the new one; while the city has good food and historical buildings, it also possesses new and innovative attractions, such as Taipei 101 and the 24-hour Eslite bookstore. He recalled that when he was studying in the United States, he was impressed with the Barnes and Nobles bookstore, which is much bigger than the traditional bookstores on Chongqing South Road. Today, foreign visitors are impressed with the Eslite Bookstore in Xinyi District – with six stories and opened around the clock.