International tourists and Taiwan : The Israeli perspective

I guess it’s natural that they have it, but it still came as a surprise. A few weeks back I got this next Hebrew brochure by email that details a travel proposal for visiting Taiwan. I was always under the impression that no Israelis ever travel to Taiwan to tour around, keeping track of the travel forums in the Israeli websphere, but it turns out that travel agencies do offer tourism packages, and it’s interesting to read how those are built to attract Israeli tourists.

Another quick translation of highlights from Hebrew :

Day 1 : Taipei -> Sun Moon Lake

The lake is the biggest in Taiwan [...] in the center of the lake (between the Sun and the Moon) there’s an island sacred to the “Shou” people and only they’re allowed to the island to worship their ancestors. In past years the lake was bigger and deeper but its form changed due to the construction of a power plant and a dam. [...]

Won temple was built during 1938 with two structures that were moved when the dam was put in place. The temple was reconstructed during 1969 and looks the way it looks today. The worshipers come to pay their respects to Confucius and the Gods of war. The pagoda was built to commemorate Madam Wang, the mother of the Chinese leader Chiang Kai Shek, and it’s set on the top of a mountain with a beautiful view of the lake.

Day 2 : Sun Moon Lake -> Tainan

Tainan is the 4th biggest and most ancient city in Taiwan [...] there is evidence for humanoid settlements from over 10000 years ago. Tainan has  been the ancient capital of Taiwan for 200 years and it offers a lot of tourist attractions and historical sites. We’ll visit Chikan Towers and the Confucius temple. This temple is the oldest in Taiwan and is an example for Confucian architecture. We’ll also visit Anping, built by the Dutch during the 17th century and the biggest Buddhist temple in Japan (Fili – mistake in original), the Fo-Guang-Shan monastery.

Day 3 : Tainan -> Tai-Tung -> Chih-Pen

You may get up at dawn and join the convent’s choir, and then a short physical exercise and a class in meditation. Arriving at Tai-Tung at lunch, and the rest of the day would be for resting and relaxing in the natural hot spring. [...] Bathing in hot springs is very popular in Taiwan due to its healthy influence on the skin and general health, and in Chih-Pen you can do so while viewing impressive landscape.

Day 4 : Chih-Pen -> Taroko

We’ll leave north [...] The place offers a view of fascinating rock formation made from sand. The caves of the 8 immortals are located on the cliffs next to the seaside formed millions of years ago. There are more than 12 caves with a hiking trail with small temples for worshipers. Rest of the day is free.

Day 5 : Taroko -> Taipei

[...] Park includes mountain tops of over 3000m above sea level, with mountains, waterfalls, snow, Genesis forests and natural hotsprings. [...] We’ll later visit Ching-Shiu cliffs and go back to Taipei.

No Taipei, the only city tour is in Tainan, with a lot of scenery and hotsprings. The descriptions are touristic, naturally, but they emphasis certain things mainly having to do with (odd) history, some culture and nature. It’s only a small sample, but I do think the choices made mean something. If you were to market Taiwan abroad, maybe to your own home country, what would the tour include?