The Taipei City Government is banking on the hosting of the World Masters Games next year to raise its business events profile.
Held every four years, the World Masters Games is open to sports people of all abilities who are over 30 years of age, and governed by the International Masters Games Association.
Vincent Lu, subsection chief with the tourism development division, Department of Information and Tourism Taipei, told TTGmice: “This is Taipei government’s biggest project (for now). We expect to welcome more than 20,000 participants who will take part in sports from basketball to archery – because unlike the Olympics, you do not have to qualify for this event.”
Moreover, happening on the sidelines of the World Masters Games will be smaller-scale business events activities.
He added that Taipei has a proven track record of successfully hosting major international events. Upcoming events this year include the 2024 IEEE Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics, and Frequency Control Joint Symposium from September 22 to 26, which will see 2,000 participants, and Computex 2024 that will see 11,000 grace the floors at Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center from June 4 to 7.
“We have 6,600 available rooms in Taipei, (and we) offer financial support and a one-stop service to help with the bidding, promotions, and site inspections, to entice event planners to consider Taiwan,” Lu noted.
Taipei’s International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA) city ranking for 2022 was third in Asia-Pacific with 55 meetings, and 25th globally.
He added: “Singapore is a benchmark for us, seeing that the country is very strong in business events (Singapore was first in Asia-Pacific with 101 meetings in 2022). It is a very competitive market, but we are working towards being the first in Asia-Pacific.”
