Attending the opening ceremony of the 2024 Taiwan Food Exhibition on Friday, President Lai Ching-te (賴清德) emphasized that not only is Taiwan a food paradise, but also has a rich culinary culture with tourism benefits. On that basis, the government will implement three steps to promote tourism: increasing Taiwan’s international visibility, highlighting local culinary and tourism characteristics, and collaborating across regions and fields for more effective marketing.
Organized by the Taiwan Visitors Association, the food exhibition takes place over four days starting this Friday. Speaking at the event, President Lai highlighted the rich diversity in Taiwan’s food culture, incorporating not just traditional Chinese cuisines, but also those from around the world. Taiwanese are blessed to enjoy a wide variety of ingredients cultivated by local farmers, Lai said. The president also noted that more and more young people are taking up cooking careers and have since become international gold-medal chefs.
Adopting the three steps for tourism, Lai’s administration will promote Taiwan on major international media, highlight local culinary and tourism attractions, inviting cross-regional, and cross-field collaboration for more effective marketing campaigns.
At the event, Transportation Minister Li Meng-yen (李孟諺) reported that besides its well-known street food, Taiwan’s Michelin-starred restaurants have also grown with a total of 241 stars at present, along with 560 eateries having received the Michelin’s Bib Gourmand Award. The goal is to eventually have all cities and counties in Taiwan listed in the Michelin guide.