the Chinese New Year and is being promoted by Taiwan to make it a significant on the international tourism calendar. Special promotions have been undertaken to educate travel agencies around the world with the festival, and the festival enjoys high popularity with Asian visitors (Holman, October 8, 1993, p. A6).
In 1991, the first Taipei Chinese Food Festival was held in August. This festival, which showcases the presentation and preparation of many types of Chinese cooking, is anticipated to be a strong draw to the country.
Taiwan recognizes that while the leisure traveler is an important part of tourism, attracting business professionals can result in higher yields than just attracting the vacationing visitor. Business professionals are often on expense accounts, are more likely to spend their time in cities, and are likely to be return visitors as their network of contacts builds with each visit. In order to tap into this potentially lucrative visitor market, Taiwan is promoting international conventions and congresses. The Taipei International Convention Center, opened in the early 1990s, represents a significant investment on the part of Taiwan to pursue this market. This convention center will serve not only to attract international congresses, but will be available for local events, as well, again bringing business professionals to the area.
The country encourages both private and public investment in order to continue to attract visitors to Taiwan. A theme park is planned for a site near Taichung (in central Taiwan), and existing tourist attractions are being expanded. These include improvements to the Window on China, which contains miniature reproductions of buildings in mainland China, Taiwan and other parts of the world), and Leofoo Safari Park, both of which are located near Taipei.
The nation is also taking advantage of its natural scenic beauty by constructing high quality resort hotels in key spots. ...