Source: Journalist Jheng-Yu Yao/Tainan report 09/10/2013 18:26

Since direct flights between Tainan and Hong Kong have been launched, the occupancy rates have been growing steadily. China Airlines is considering increasing flights to once a day before the end of the year. According to studies by China Airlines’ Hong Kong branch on Hong Kong tourism to Taiwan, Hong Kong tourists to Tainan are partial to ecologically oriented field trips. They are most interested in Tainan's gourmet food, ecological salt pans and social cultural milieu. However they found Tainan's transportation services are inconvenient and need to be improved.

China Airlines first launched direct flights between Tainan and Hong Kong in mid-July. Presently its occupancy rates are close to 80 percent. The steadily growing customer rates have motivated China Airlines to evaluate the feasibility of increasing flights. The Hong Kong tourism industry is calling for 300 members to form a delegation to Taiwan at the end of September.

The president of China Airlines Hong Kong Branch, Huei-Ming Tang stated that China Airlines was considering increasing flights to one flight a day. She pointed out that with mountains and sea, salt pans, the Mangrove Tunnel, affordable prices and hospitable citizens Tainan city was a city with unique charm. To high population density Hong Kong natives, especially young backpackers, the city was amazing and novel.

Huei-Ming Tang further added that some schools in Hong Kong would arrange for students to go on an ecological and historical monuments trip to Tainan. The municipal government might want to work with the industries in the areas of characterizing attractions, promoting agricultural specialties and strengthening contact between the industries to progressively spread the popularity of Tainan.

However, Huei-Ming Tang did not hesitate to comment that it was imperative that the municipal government improve the public transportation system as most of Hong Kong’s tourists were on self-guided tours and the majority found that the city's transportation was inconvenient. She suggested the municipal government could further map out more in-depth tour routes or bicycle routes to offer even more diverse options; thus, generating a high degree of welcome for Hong Kong tourists.