Taichung City Government actively promotes flights arriving at and departing from Taichung International Airport. On the 15th, Korean budget airline, T’way Air, carried about 200 passengers in its first flight to Taichung and they were greeted by Director-general of Tourism Bureau of Taichung City Government, Mr. Chen Sheng-shan. Director-general Chen pointed out that last year Taiwan had 884,397 visitors from Korea and 808,420 Taiwanese visitors went to Korea at the same time. By the end of this year, visitors from and to both countries are expected to exceed 2 million. In the future, Taichung City Government will continue promoting the use of Taichung International Airport as the arrival and departure airport.

Korean budget airline, T’way Air’s first flight arrived at Taichung International Airport on the 15th and Director-general of Tourism Bureau of Taichung City Government, Mr. Chen, gave local souvenirs, Central Taiwan Pass Cards, and tourism literature to passengers of the first flight. Director of Taichung International Airport, Mr. Chang Rui-Sh; General Manager of T’way Air Taiwan, Cui Jia Dung; General Manager of Xin Flight Travel Service, Chen Rui-lun; and representative of Ja Shun Bus also joined Director-general Mr. Chen to greet these visitors. Korean visitors were impressed with Taichung City’s “warm hospitality!”

According to Director-general, Mr. Chen, in response to the 2018 Taichung International Flora Exposition, Taichung City Government actively promotes flights that arrive at and depart from Taichung International Airport. About three months ago, a delegation was led to visit two Korean budget airline operators, T’way Air and Jin Air. Hong-Geun Jeong, CEO of T’way Air, promised immediately to facilitate direct and regular flights of T’way Air between Taichung and Seoup. The first flight carried about 200 Korean passengers to Taichung, marking a new opportunity for visitors from both sides to visit each other. In the future, this mode of using Taichung International Airport will be expanded for visits of Korean visitors to Taiwan to lead further development of exchanges between two sides.

Director-general Chen also stated that mutual visits between Taiwan and Korea have been very actively in recent years with 884,397 visitors from Korea coming to Taiwan last year and 808,420 Taiwanese visitors visiting Korea at the same time. He optimistically expects that the number of mutual visits will exceed two million by the end of this year. At present, most Korean visitors chose to stay in Taipei. From Taichung City, Eva and China Airline provide six direct flights to Seoul per week and now after the flight provision of T’way Air, weekly direct flight to Seoul increases to ten with the expectation to bring more inbound visitors to Taichung and to continuously develop Central Taiwan’s tourism market.

Cui Jia Tung, General Manager of T’way Air Taiwan also said that with abundant tourism resources and various and charming new tourism attractions, Central Taiwan is a tourism market with full potential. He would like to work hand in hand with Taichung City Government to continuously grow flights.

According to Tourism Bureau of Taichung City Government, T’way Air, starting from December 15, on every Monday, Wednesday, Friday, offers direct flights from Incheon International Airport to Taichung. Additionally, to respond to demands of backpack travelers for budget airlines, Taichung City Government actively develops rapid bus services to and from the Airport and works with Taichung International Airport, T’way Air, Xin Flight Travel Service, and Ja Shun Bus via Tourism Bureau to set up inbound tourist service platform. Ja Sun Bus provided limited A1 free shuttle bus services in the first week of T’way Air’s flights to Taichung. Korean visitors only need to link to Fanspage of T’way Air on Facebook to make reservation of free A1 shuttle bus service to various scenic sites such as National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts and Taichung Park in Taichung City. In addition to free and convenient services, e-bus of Ja Shun Bus incorporates environmental protection concept.

Tourism Bureau also states that with continuous efforts, services of international budget airlines including Hong Kong Express, VietJet, Tigerair Taiwan, Thai Vietjet, and T’way Air are now available in Taichung International Airport that demonstrate the achievements of international tourism promotion. In the future, the World Flora Exposition, the East Asian Youth Games and World Orchid Exposition will be launched in Taichung City. Services of budget airlines in Taichung International Airport will bring more international inbound visitors. Taichung City Government actively promotes the strategic goal of “flight operational center” of Taichung City to implement the model of arriving at and departing from Taichung International Airport for introducing visitors to seven cities and counties in Central Taiwan to enable them to get to know more charms of Taiwan.