《TAIPEI TIMES》 Emmy-winning host to film special travel feature on Taiwan’s attractions

By Shelley Shan / Staff reporter

Emmy Award-winning travel program host Erica Olsen arrived in Taiwan yesterday to film a special series on tourist destinations across the nation, the Tourism Bureau said.

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The partnership between the bureau and CBS network in the US is part of the government’s efforts to attract more visitors from North America, it said.

From Oct. 13 last year, when Taiwan reopened its borders, to the end of December, about 79,000 travelers from the US and Canada visited Taiwan, making them the largest source of international tourists arriving via long-haul flights, the bureau said.

Given the strong interest among North American travelers to visit Asia in the post-pandemic era, the number of flights between Taiwan and the US have also increased, bureau Director-General Chang Shi-chung （張錫聰） said.

“We invited a travel program host from a mainstream media outlet in the US to explore Taiwan, which we hope will increase exposure of Taiwan in North America,” Chang said.

So far, flights departing for Taiwan from San Francisco or Los Angeles have returned to 70 to 80 percent of pre-pandemic levels, the bureau said, adding that the number of Taiwan-US flights are expected to increase further in the second quarter.

Starlux Airlines yesterday announced that it would launch direct flights between Taipei and Los Angeles on April 26.

Olsen hosts the Inside SoCal Sunday Morning series, which won an Emmy award in the entertainment programming category in 2018, the bureau said.

Olsen told the bureau that she had been wanting to visit Taiwan as she has heard that it has friendly people, beautiful scenery, delicious food and a rich culture, the bureau said.

Olsen is to travel to Taipei, Tainan and Kaohsiung, and wrap her trip by viewing the sunrise in Alishan and its cherry blossoms, the bureau said.

Olsen would try wearing a qipao during her trip in Tainan, the bureau said.

In Taipei, she is to board a bus that serves delicious food while traveling around Xinyi District （信義）, it said.

The special series on Taiwan is to air next month on the KCAL and KCBS channels in southern California, while viewers in northern California can watch the episodes on Travel Tuesday, the bureau said.

新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES