Mayor Lai Headed for Osaka to Promote the Two Prides of Tainan

TAINAN, TAIWAN--(Marketwired - Jul 3, 2015) - Tainan Mayor Lai Ching-te and Director-General of the Tainan City Government Tourism Bureau, Ms. Wang Shi-si, headed for Osaka, Japan on June 29^th and 30^th to host a press conference on the launch of the Tainan-Kansai regular direct flight service and a conference promoting Taiwan's tourism. Starting from October 28^th this year, regularly-scheduled nonstop flights will be operated from Tainan Airport to Kansai Airport each Wednesday and Saturday, which will also become the third direct international flight flying out from Tainan Airport, following the launch of nonstop flights from Tainan to Hong Kong and from Tainan to Wuhan. As an expression of hospitality, the Tainan City Government even generously offered more than 400 fresh mangoes from Tainan to Osaka to treat Osaka residents that attended the conferences.

With the mayor actively seeking for the new direct flight service, China Airlines has been giving their full support and plans to open regularly-scheduled nonstop service between Tainan and Kansai on October 28^th. According to China Airlines, the flights are expected to be each Wednesday and Saturday, with Boeing 738 aircrafts, offering eight business-class seats and 150 economy-class seats on each flight. Flights from Tainan to Kansai will depart from Tainan at 3:55pm and arrive at Kansai at 7:35pm; flights from Kansai to Tainan will depart from Kansai at 12:10pm and arrive at Tainan at 2:55pm.

Participants that attended the direct flight launch press conference on June 29^th include: Tainan mayor Lai Ching-te, Director-general of Tainan city government's Tourism Bureau, Ms. Wang Shi-si, the Director-general of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Osaka, Mr. Tsai Ming-yao, the President of China Airlines' Japan Branch offices, Mr. Shih Ping-huang, China Airlines' Osaka Branch Office Supervisor Mr. Sun Hung-wen, Kyoto city council representative Mr. Kazuhiro Terada, and fourteen travel industry business representatives from Tainan. During the tourism promotion conference on June 30th, Director-General Wang Shih-si of the Tourism Bureau introduced the upcoming Tainan-Kansai direct flight route as well as the charm of Tainan. Several travel industry representatives from Tainan also promoted their own specialty products and service. Mayor Lai also held a tea ceremony in person to invite the former member of the House of Representatives from the Osaka constituency, Mr. Masaki Nakayama, to visit Tainan.

Mayor Lai reiterated on this trip that the Tainan City Government has been making an all-out effort to strive for international direct flights operated from Tainan. With the launch of the third regular international flight service form Tainan, visitors from Japan will be able to directly access the Tainan Airport without having to travel to Kaohsiung or Taoyuan in order to catch their flights, which allows for more time for Japanese visitors to take their time in enjoying and experiencing the ambience of the historical city Tainan. During the conferences, Mayor Lai kept mentioning the historical ties between Tainan and Japan and noted that many historic sites in Tainan, with more than seventy or eighty years of history that can be traced back to the Japanese Colonial period including the Tainan Prefectural Hall, Old Tainan Magistrate Residence Hall, Wusanto Reservoir, Hayashi Department Store, and the Ying Dining House have all been restored and now open to the public with their brand new appearances after the city government's efforts in repairing these sites. In addition, Tainan has long been internationally renowned for its local delicacies. In particular, the Yu-ching mangos that are currently in season are the supreme local delicacy that Japanese visitors find irresistible. Moreover, Japanese writers like Tae Hitoto and illustrator Yamazaki Tatsuji are all fans of Tainan and get their inspirations from the austere yet unique lifestyle of Tainan locals. The works of these Japanese artists are extremely popular among the Japanese, yet another strong proof of Tainan's strong appeal to Japanese visitors. Hence, after the direct flight service to Tainan is launched, Japanese visitors are welcome to take advantage of the service to fly to Tainan and plan for a longer stay in the city in order to fully explore and experience all the wonders that Tainan offers.

Ms. Wang Shih-si, the Director-general of the Tainan City Government's Tourism Bureau said that to prepare for the launch of the new Tainan-Kansai direct flights that will soon be in service, the city government has planned a series of complementary marketing programs, first of which will be travel passports designed specifically for visitors from Japan. Inside the travel passports, not only are ten travel routes carefully selected for Japanese visitors, but also discounts from 17 hotels, 18 gourmet foods gift shops, and one aesthetic medicine institution. Director-general Wang told representatives of the travel industry from Osaka that Tainan is a historical cultural capital that has an extremely unique, pleasant character and the city boasts its nostalgic historic sites, rich natural landscapes, local hospitality, and divine gourmet foods that keep visitors coming back for more. Hence, one cannot really claim that they have been to Taiwan without ever visiting Tainan. In the past, many travelers from Japan only knew Taipei, Taichung, and Kaohsiung, but now, with the launch of this new flight service, visitors from Japan can easily arrive in Tainan with a mere 3-hour flight. General-director Wang also encouraged all the participants from Japan's travel industry can offer their full support and join the efforts to market and promote travel packages to Tainan.

Participants from the Tainan-based travel industry that joined the city government on this marketing trip to Osaka included Tayih Landis Hotel, Shangri La's Far Eastern Plaza Hotel Tainan, The Place Tainan, Silk Place Tainan, and Glory Fine Hotel, all of which will provide hotel discounts to Japanese travelers that take this nonstop flight to Tainan. After the direct flight service starts operating, the city government will also offer free bus tickets and souvenirs to Japanese visitors that take the direct flight. According to Director-general Wang, the city government hopes that through this series of marketing and promotion activities, Japanese visitors can feel the charm, high value for money, and convenience of visiting Tainan, which in turn can enhance the occupancy rates of the new nonstop flights.