As the representative of the Tourism Circle Project 1.0, the Sun Moon Lake PLUS Alliance is not only backed by world-class scenic spots and located strategically in central Taiwan, but also by the high degree of solidarity of the local industry and the academe, so it is the first to break away from the initial stage of industry integration and focus on the most important issues of local concern, such as improving competitiveness. From the release of data to the formation of a dedicated PAK, the tourism market has come to witness the strong growth of Sun Moon Lake.
▲ The second inter-regional exchange forum was held by the Sun Moon Lake PLUS Alliance on September 28 at the South Island Hall.
The Alliance has released the tourism data of Sun Moon Lake PLUS for the first and second quarters of 2022 to explore the development of the industry and the tourism trend, and has signed an MOU with data experts and DMC to expand the future deployment of the Tourism Circle.
Cognizant of the fact that in today's data-driven society, mastering big data resources can accurately grasp the trend and inject new information into the local area, the Sun Moon Lake PLUS Alliance took the lead in establishing the Big Data Research Center this year and released the tourism data of Sun Moon Lake in 2022 through the ""2nd Interdisciplinary Exchange Seminar"" held at the South Island Hall on September 28. The Alliance also invited the Director of Singaporean company BrandStory Inc., Luo Shih-Wen share the ""Overseas Tourism Marketing Organization Operation Model and Case Studies."" In addition, the Tourism Circle also signed a MOU with KKday, the Department of Information Management of National Chi Nan University, and BrandStory Inc. of Singapore on the day of the event to continue to enhance the future development and competitiveness of Sun Moon Lake PLUS.
Chien Ching-Fa, Director of Sun Moon Lake National Scenic Area Administration, said that although the tourism industry was deeply impacted during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Sun Moon Lake PLUS was very united in solidary and continued to enhance the local area with the Tourism Circle and even attracted more partners to join, successfully polishing the brand of Sun Moon Lake. In the face of the imminent relaxation of border controls to inbound tourism, many people are also concerned about whether the tourism circle will continue to be implemented. The Sun Moon Lake National Scenic Area Administration will continue to do its best to invest in the development of the industry from the funds allocated by the central government in the hope of achieving the ultimate goal of self-sufficiency of the Tourism Circle and the Sun Moon Lake National Scenic Area Administration will continue to accompany the industry in the process.
Nantou County Government's Tourism Bureau Chief Huang Shan expressed his gratitude to the Director of the Sun Moon Lake National Scenic Area Administration for promoting local tourism. Destination tourism is an international tourism trend and Nantou County has joined hands with seven counties and cities in Taiwan to fight a group war from the perspective of regional self-autonomy, and at the same time, it has launched such methods as hot spring season, tea expo, chocolate coffee festival and flower carnival to continuously increase local exposure and attract people to visit.
The deputy director of the City and Tourism Development Department of Changhua County Government, Kuo Chiu-Jun, pointed out that Changhua has been closely integrated with Nantou since ancient times, both in terms of geographical location and history and nowadays, it is also necessary to work closely in tourism development, so that the bright spots of Changhua can be showcased through tourism circles. The county government is now actively launching activities such as the Bagua Mountain Grand Stride and next year will also strengthen the resource inventory of the Turbid River, so that tourism in the Tourism Circle can be expanded from the mountains all the way to the mouth of the sea, bringing more diverse experiences for tourists.
The president of Sun Moon Lake PLUS, Wei Chen-Yu, expressed his gratitude for the dedication and leadership of the industry, government and academe to enable the Circle to continue to thrive. He also hoped that under the leadership of CEO Tseng Hsi-Peng, all members of the Circle would work together to implement various tasks and promote the characteristics of Sun Moon Lake PLUS to the international community. Nantou County Hotel Association Chairman Li Chi-Tian said that the biggest advantage of Sun Moon Lake PLUS comes from the strong cohesion of its members. Because of the 1999 Jiji Earthquake, Nantou has been ahead of Taiwan for 20 years to set up an industry alliance to promote the local area. Therefore, when the Tourism Circle policy was launched, Nantou and Changhua were able to mobilize quickly and form a strong organization, so many peer circle organizations in the market have given high recognition to the Sun Moon Lake PLUS.
Tseng Yong-Ping, a consultant of Sun Moon Lake PLUS Alliance, said that under the policy efforts of Taiwan Tourism 2030, tourism mainstreaming and tourism circle, the Sun Moon Lake PLUS Alliance has become one of the industry’s key indicators. The signing of the MOU and the recruitment of the Department of Information Management of National Chi Nan University into the Alliance will provide strong support for the future development of industry, government and academia, especially after the reopening of the borders to foreign tourists starting on 10/13, local tourism destination management organizations will be more important than ever.
From 1.0 to 3.0, the Sun Moon Lake PLUS continues to evolve
The CEO of the Sun Moon Lake PLUS Alliance, Tseng Hsi-Peng, shared that during the Tourism Circle 1.0 project, the Alliance focused on three major aspects such as system establishment, organizational integration, and resource inventory, including the establishment of a complete organizational structure, the establishment of the Alliance's articles and bylaws and brand development.
As the Tourism Circle moves towards 2.0, the Alliance focused on cross-domain growth, organizational deepening and brand revitalization and the priority objectives were to cultivate and develop regional counseling, develop operational strategies, promote cross-regional cooperation, publicize and develop brands, design innovative tours, and plan precise targeted marketing campaigns. The four regions of the alliance have also held their own regional exchange seminars in August, focusing on internal resources for discussion, while actively preparing for the cross-regional exchange in October. With the imminent opening of the national border, the Alliance is also taking the lead in looking at the Tourism Circle 3.0, which will take the three major goals of building the 100 most prosperous stars, international exchanges in the Tourism Circle, and deepening the development of regional characteristics as the driving force and goal for continuous progress in the region."
▲(From left) Mao Chin-Hsiang, Vice President of Sun Moon Lake PLUS Alliance; Luo Shih-Wen, Director of Singapore's BrandStory Inc.; Wei Chen-Yu, President of Sun Moon Lake PLUS; Chien Ching-Fa, Director of the Sun Moon Lake National Scenic Area Administration; Kuo Chiu-Chun, Deputy Director of City and Tourism Development Department of Changhua County Government; Tseng Hsi-Peng, CEO of Sun Moon Lake PLUS; and Peng Cheng-Yu, spokesperson.
Using data to grasp the market pulse, the Tourism Circle joined hands with 3 major organizations to sign MOU
In order to ensure a price image, the Alliance has already conducted the SBPI brand performance survey in 2021 and grasped the initial concept of tourists' perception of the Tourism Circle brand. However, if the Circle wants to grasp the market trend more accurately, it needed to build a data research center. Therefore, Sun Moon Lake PLUS has joined hands with three major organizations, including the Department of Information Management of National Chi Nan University, KKday and Beacon Marketing and Research, to start from the online voice, member consumption data, and telephone market survey, in order to grasp effective data and become the motivation for the alliance's progress.
As shown in the ""SBPI 2022 First Half Year Survey Results,"" the total number of tourist arrivals at Sun Moon Lake PLUS reached 5.73 million, the total revenue reached NT$22.8 billion, the ratio of group travel to individual travel was 11.1% and 88.9%, of which the ratio of repeat visits reached 51.8% and the satisfaction rate of travel came to 92.3%.
Although the total number of visitors, total revenue, average tour fare and group travel ratio all declined compared to the same period last year, the main reason was the sudden surge of the epidemic in the first half of the year, which discouraged tourists. However, the data on the proportion of self-guided travelers, per capita spending of self-guided travelers, overall tourist satisfaction and repeat visitors all show significant growth, which confirms that the Sun Moon Lake Tourism PLUS is developing steadily in the direction of the ""quality resort-type tourism destination"" that the alliance expects.
In order to promote the continuous transformation of Sun Moon Lake tourism PLUS, the Alliance joined forces with experts and signed an MOU.
▲ Director of Sun Moon Lake National Scenic Area Administration, Chien Ching-Fa (center), witnessed (from left) the signing of the MOU between Wei Chen-Yu, President of Sun Moon Lake PLUS, and Luo Shih-Wen, Director of Singapore BrandStory Inc.
The Director of Sun Moon Lake National Scenic Area Administration, Mr. Chien Ching-Fa (2nd from left), witnessed (from left) the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding between Professor Tai Jung-Fu and Chair of the Department of Information Management, National Chi Nan University, Wei Chen-Yu, President of Sun Moon Lake PLUS, and Cheng Chi-Tsang, Director of KKday.
▲Sun Moon Lake PLUS Alliance President Wei Chen-Yu (left) presented a certificate of appreciation to the director of Singapore BrandStory Inc. Luo Shih-Wen.
▲Sun Moon Lake PLUS Alliance President Wei Chen-Yu (left) presented a certificate of appreciation to the Director of KKday Cheng Chi-Tsang,
▲Sun Moon Lake PLUS Alliance President Wei Chen-Yu (third from left) presented a certificate of appreciation to Professor Tai Jung-Fu (fourth from left), Professor and Head of Department of Information Management, National Chi Nan University.