On 17 December 2019, a reception celebrating the grand opening of the Taiwan Tourism Bureau London Office was held at London’s Le Méridien Hotel. The event was hosted by Taiwan Tourism Bureau Executive Director-General Dr Chou Yung-Hui and attended by around 120 people. Representative Lin, Representative Yang Tzu-Pao of the Taipei Representative Office in Ireland, seven UK parliamentarians, including Prime Minister’s Trade Envoy to Taiwan Lord Faulkner of Worcester, as well as members of London’s diplomatic corps and the Taiwanese overseas community all participated in the celebration.
In his opening speech, Dr Chou stressed that the UK had the greatest number of tourists visiting Taiwan compared to other European countries, and expressed hope that with the establishment of the Taiwan Tourism Bureau’s London Office would support agencies in arranging travel to Taiwan for UK visitors. In his opening remarks, Representative Lin highlighted the steady growth of Taiwan-UK tourism exchanges over the past few years, with the number of visitors between both countries totalling 140,000. He stressed that tourism between Taiwan and Europe also paints a very encouraging picture, with 320,000 European tourists visiting Taiwan from January to October this year, marking an 11% increase from the previous year. Representative Lin expressed confidence that with the establishment of the new tourism office in London that bilateral tourism will grow even faster and further. He concluded by congratulating Dr Chou and the Taiwan Tourism Bureau for the opening of their new London office. The Taiwan Tourism Bureau, London Office is headed by Director Sylvia Lee and located on 5F, 29 Wilson Street, London, EC2M 2SJ. The office can be reached by phone at 44-20-80752577, or email at lsh@taiwantourism.co.uk