According to a survey by a well-known online booking platform, Taichung is ranked 8th among the Top 10 Destinations in the World in 2020, making it one of the quintessential destinations among foreign tourists. Furthermore, Taichung City Government is also launching the tourist-friendly taxi service, training taxi drivers with expertise in the English and Japanese language and issuing them certification stickers that are affixed to both sides of their taxis. This is to ensure that tourist-friendly taxis are easily identified by the tourists in order to provide them with an enhanced sightseeing experience.
Tourism Office Director-General Lin Hsiao-Chi commented that Taichung is not only an international travel destination but also ranked among the top 10 destinations in the world. In an effort to provide foreign tourists with tourist-friendly shuttle service, the Tourism Office has launched the tourist-friendly taxi driver training and certification program for the first time this year. The first wave aims to cater to the needs of foreign tourists (English and Japanese) by improving the taxis' reception and sightseeing introduction skills.
According to the Tourism Office, the Transportation Bureau and a dozen taxi fleet operators were brought together to draw up the training program for this year's project. In total, 44 qualified drivers (29 English-speaking and 15 Japanese-speaking) were selected after the course completion evaluation was conducted in mid-December. The Tourism Office issued them tourist-friendly taxi (English and Japanese) certification stickers that can be attached to both sides of the taxi. Furthermore, a list of drivers' names will also be announced on the Tourism Office's official website. Additionally, relevant travel and accommodation service providers will be recommended to assist in the campaign as well.
The taxi driver representative thanked the city government for organizing the training program that in turn enabled them to receive foreign tourists. Moreover, taxi driver Mr. Su, who specializes in Japanese, said that he is a language enthusiast and he likes how the course is arranged. If he receives Japanese tourists, he will recommend Taichung's famous hot spring and authentic bubble tea to them, so that the tourists will fall in love with Taichung.
Representatives from the Taichung Tourist Hotel Association, Taichung Hotel Association, and Taichung B&B Association all turned out for today's function. The taxi driver training program aims to elevate the level of service for tourists staying in Taichung. In the future, it is hoped that more taxi drivers will join the program, and other language courses such as Southeast Asian languages and Korean will be incorporated to boost the overall reception performance.
For the 2020 Taiwan Lantern Festival in Taichung, the Wenxin Forest Park secondary exhibition area will be open from 2019/12/21 until 2020/2/23, while the main exhibition area in Houli Horse Ranch & Forest Expo Site will be officially open from 2/8-23 next year.