Taoyuan is running an international campaign fronted by K-pop singer Yeh Shu-hua, positioning Taiwan’s main international gateway as a destination rather than a transit point.
Yeh, a Taoyuan native and member of the girl group i-dle, has been appointed the city’s official tourism ambassador, with promotional advertising running in Tokyo, Busan, Hong Kong, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur.
The campaign promotes three signature routes. The Taoyuan Airport MRT line connects the Xpark Aquarium and Gloria Outlets shopping. The Dalongmen Tourism Corridor links Daxi, Longtan and the Shimen Dam, pairing landscape with local traditions. The historic districts of Taoyuan and Zhongli showcase a mixed Minnan, Hakka and international heritage alongside local food.
Four flagship festivals anchor the second half of 2026: the Taoyuan Land Art Festival, running from July 4 to August 30 with large-scale installations along the coastline, the Pearl Coast Music Festival on August 1 and 2, the Taiwan Design Expo from September 24 to October 11, and Taoyuan Halloween from late October.
“As the first stop for many international visitors to Taiwan, Taoyuan combines excellent transportation with diverse tourism resources and vibrant festivals,” said Chen Ching-fang, director of the Department of Tourism at Taoyuan City Government.
A multilingual campaign website has been launched at travel.tycg.gov.tw/en.
Why it matters for the trade
Taoyuan’s challenge is conversion: most international arrivals to Taiwan pass through it and head straight to Taipei, so the commercial ask here is a stopover or a one-night pre-tour extension rather than a standalone destination sale. The MRT line makes that easy to package, since the Xpark and Gloria Outlets routing needs no coach and slots into a first or last day around flight times.
The ambassador choice signals where the spend is aimed, at Japanese, Korean and Southeast Asian short-haul markets where K-pop casting carries weight, so European and North American operators should read this as a market-specific campaign rather than a global one. The festival calendar is the more useful hook for long-haul programming, with the Taiwan Design Expo in particular offering a themed anchor for autumn departures.