Apart from savoring gourmet food and admiring breathtaking sceneries, travelers may also experience the most eco-friendly traveling in Taichung. Taichung City Government has consolidated well-known bikeways and low-carbon accommodation to demonstrate its determination in environmental protection and sustainable tourism development. According to the Tourism and Travel Bureau, the city government is striving to build a bicycle-friendly environment by constructing a network of bikeways totaling 690km long. Furthermore, it has incentivized the accommodation industry to develop low-carbon hotels, and currently, 62 hotels have already received accreditation. The aim is to create a slow-living lifestyle in Taichung by encouraging the citizens to embark on a light green journey.
The Tourism and Travel Bureau commented that the 690km-long bikeway network spans across the city's mountain, coastal, central and urban areas. Once nominated as one of the Top 10 Classic Bikeways in Taiwan, the Dongfeng Bikeway and Houfeng Bikeway are the first bikeways reconstructed from railway tracks. With a total length of 18km, the highly popular bikeways combine green tourism with the unique features of railway, attracting more than 10 million tourists last year.
Gaomei Levee Bikeway leads all the way to the Gaomei Wetland Visitor Center, offering cyclists a view of the spectacular wall painting and wetland landscape. Advanced riders may prefer the Tiezhenshan Challenging Bikeway coupled with the newly reconstructed Tiezhenshan Sculpture Park to enjoy a cultural family tour along the coastal line, where they can savor local delicacies and admire Taichung's magnificent sights.
In order to materialize Taichung's low-carbon city policy, the Tourism and Travel Bureau has vigorously promoted low-carbon hotel accreditation, encouraging hotels to improve their facilities and implement energy-saving measures. As the first city to launch low-carbon hotel accreditation in Taiwan, Taichung City is now home to 62 accredited hotels. Low-carbon accreditation is valid for a period of 3 years starting from the issuing date stated on the certificate, and spot checks will be conducted from time to time to determine if low-carbon measures are still being carried out by the accredited hotels.
Tourism and Travel Bureau emphasized that low-carbon hotels will not lower their service quality, but encouraging them to install green energy equipment and energy-saving measures will realize energy conservation, carbon reduction, and sustainable development in the tourism industry. Of the 62 low-carbon accredited hotels in Taichung, there are 4 tourist hotels, 20 star-rated hotels (including 6 five-star, 5 four-star, and 9 three-star hotels), demonstrating that low-carbon hotels also offer guaranteed service quality.
Tourism and Travel Bureau pointed out that in conjunction with the National Tourism Fall/Winter Subsidy Program and the city government's Travel to Taichung in Fall and Winter to Enjoy Double Bonus Offers, visitors will be able to check into low-carbon accredited hotels and embark on a bikeway journey, where they can ramble in Taichung in a leisurely, eco-friendly, healthy and carbon-reducing fashion.
For more low-carbon accredited hotel and bikeway-related information, please refer to the Taichung Tourism website (https://travel.taichung.gov.tw/).