To entice international travelers to visit Taiwan’s Hakka villages, the Hakka Affairs Council (HAC) sent a delegation to attend Tourism Expo Japan, one of the largest travel fairs in the world that took place at Osaka’s International Exhibition Center from Oct. 24 through 27. Apart from Osaka, HAC delegates also participated in a travel mart in Nagoya, raising the profile of the ongoing Romantic Route 3 Arts Festival in Taiwan by speaking to Japanese travel agencies.

According to Taiwan’s tourism statistics, the number of tourists from Japan is increasing every year. For example, 1.96 million people from Japan visited Taiwan in 2018, and individual travelers account for 80 percent of that figure. The Japan market potential is huge since one tenth of the country’s outbound travelers have visited Taiwan.

At the travel fair in Japan, HAC promoted cultural events from the Hakka arts festival and drew Japanese interest to Hakka culture through creative artworks.

As a nationwide cultural event spanning 150 kilometers on Taiwan Romantic Route 3, the Romantic Route 3 Arts Festival is taking place from Oct. 19 through Dec. 15 across Taiwan. During the two-month-long festival, different themes are presented at 9 Hakka settlements in Taoyuan’s Longtan; Hsinchu’s Zhudong, Hengshan, Beipu, Guanxi, and Emei; Miaoli’s Shitan and Dahu; and Taichung’s Dongshi.