Travel Channel Host Selects Taiwan as One of Top 5 Worldwide Destinations

LOS ANGELES, CA - Travel Channel TV host Andrew Zimmern revealed during his guest appearance at the Taiwan exhibit stage that Taiwan is one of his top 5 travel destinations in the world.

"It's unbelievable" said the celebrity author. "Taiwan is one of the best places to have a vacation. It's a long flight from America, but it's easy to get to, and easy to access; in various villages, they have some of the best Chinese food I have ever eaten in my life. Then, you drive a couple of hours to the tea plantations and stop in awe as people are picking tea leaves by hand; or walk into a restaurant where they are steaming fish in tea; there's a whole tea cuisine up there".

Taiwan Tourism Bureau's (TTB) island exhibit was awarded the "Best of Show - Audience Engagement" at The Los Angeles Travel & Adventure Show in Long Beach last weekend. The Bureau has now won the award for two consecutive years, demonstrating its flair for designing fun and interactive forums for audiences to enjoy, engage and learn about Taiwan.

Zimmern went on to describe Taiwan as a gracious, welcoming and mysterious country with lots to discover - either by stepping back in time in the mountainous hill country, or exploring one of the most modern and dynamic cities in the world, Taipei. "You have the best of both worlds" said Zimmern.

Trust Lin, Director of Taiwan Tourism Bureau, Los Angeles, said "It's such an honor to win the award again this year, and to hear Andrew Zimmern describe Taiwan as one of his Top 5 destinations. My team has worked tremendously hard over the past weeks to develop our brand image, and to achieve this recognition from the show's organizer. It is a measure of our team's dedication. It's always fun to create interesting activities to help visitors learn more about Taiwan's unique characteristics - delicious gourmet foods, spectacular landscapes and adventurous opportunities."

The TTB booth included fun activities such as beer bottle fishing games and Boba milk tea shake and stir competitions, as well as traditional Taiwanese cultural dances, and exclusive autograph sessions with popular Travel Channel TV hosts Andrew Zimmern and Samantha Brown, who attracted so many autograph-hunters that organizers were forced to delay the show's closing time by 30 minutes.

In addition, TTB participated at main stages including a cooking demonstration of Taiwanese popcorn chicken at the International Culinary Stage, cultural dance performances at the Global Beat Stage and "Taiwan, The Heart of Asia" presentation at the Destination Theatre.

These combined non-stop activities attracted extremely large audiences and kept individuals engaged for at least 15 minutes with each visitor walking away with Taiwan at the forefront of their minds.

John Golicz, CEO of Unicomm (the show's organizer) offered high praise for the winning team. "For the second year in a row, Taiwan Tourism Bureau has entertained audiences with a wide range of interactive exhibits, and has meticulously planned how to engage audiences. The team's hard-work and dedication has certainly paid off, with Taiwan's contribution proving to be one of the most popular exhibits in the show".

The next opportunity to experience the award-winning Taiwan exhibit will be at the Los Angeles Times Travel Show at the Los Angeles Convention Center from January 28-29, 2012.

The Bureau will feature all of the activities included in this show, with one spectacular addition - The Techno Princes: please see the following You Tube clip from last year's Techno Prince performance: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jEjNlKDM1Y

For more information on Taiwan, please go to www.go2taiwan.net