BUSINESS event visitors to Taiwan can now enjoy easier visa application procedures, following the destination’s introduction of an e-visa system for all foreigners who are invited to attend international conferences and trade fairs.

The new e-visa programme which began on January 12, 2016 was launched to “meet the global trend for electronic travel documents (and) simplified foreigner visa requirements”, according to Taiwan’s Tourism Action Plan 2015-1018.

It offers eligible applicants a one-stop service enabling them to fill in an e-visa application form and pay the visa fee online with a credit card. Successful applicants will be able to print out their e-visa for entry to Taiwan. With this procedure, travellers will no longer need to visit a Republic of China (Taiwan) overseas mission office in person.

The e-visa system is also open to leisure travellers from 27 countries such as Brunei, Paraguay and Turkey.

Furthermore, travellers can now apply for a landing visa at all international airports in Taiwan.

Foreign nationals seeking to apply for an e-visa to participate in international conferences or trade fairs in Taiwan may contact the Bureau of Foreign Trade, Ministry of Economic Affairs through the event’s organiser in Taiwan a month prior to the arrival date.

For more information, contact the Taiwan MICE Project Office at (886-2) 2392-0788, extension 511 or 513.

TOURISM New Zealand and Singapore-based Dynasty Travel International has inked an agreement to promote The Land of the Long White Cloud for business events to corporates in Singapore.

The partnership will see Tourism New Zealand providing priority support to Dynasty Travel’s destination promotion and sales efforts, in the form of training sessions and fam trips for the travel agency’s MICE specialists, destination marketing materials and sales support during client pitches.

Edward Kwek, Tourism New Zealand’s business events manager South & South East Asia, told TTGmice e-Weekly: “This partnership with Dynasty Travel is a pilot project, with both of us committed to attracting corporate clients to New Zealand over the next one to three years. Because corporate events are less seasonal, this move will help draw events to New Zealand during the shoulder periods of April to June and September to October.”

Alicia Seah, Dynasty Travel’s spokesperson, said New Zealand was its “most improved destination in 2015”.

“Leisure bookings for New Zealand rose 10 to 15 per cent last year, largely due to the increased air capacity from Singapore. We believe that the strong interest in New Zealand among Singapore holidaymakers will translate to the same interest in the destination for meetings, incentives and teambuilding activities. After all, New Zealand is regarded as an aspirational destination,” Seah elaborated.

Air New Zealand and Singapore Airlines had launched codeshare flights on January 6 last year, operating one daily return service per day each on the Singapore-Auckland and Singapore-Christchurch route.

Seah expects New Zealand to do even better among business event planners in Singapore this year, thanks to additional capacity from Singapore Airline’s upcoming four times weekly Singapore-Canberra (Australia)-Wellington (New Zealand) service in September.

“More seat capacity is always welcome,” Seah remarked, adding that greater awareness of how New Zealand can enhance business events will provide the additional impetus to travel.

While Kwek was unable to offer a projected increment in Singapore MICE arrivals as a result of the partnership with Dynasty Travel, he said there should be more leads going forward than the current three to four the tourism bureau gets every month out of the Lion City.