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Post-Pandemic New Normal for Taipei MICE
In a time when many governments are scrutinized over their handling of COVID-19, Destination Taiwan has stood out with clear calls to action. Taipei City's MICE community developed a measured response plan for creating a safe environment during the transformation of its business events scene. In addition, the city's government cooperates with business owners to plan measures that cater to different industries, such as the MICE industry, to assist with adapting to the new normal. Next year, Taipei City Government will release details of its efforts in a white paper to serve as reference for future development.
In June this year the domestic MICE sector was officially re-opened by the Taiwan’s Bureau of Foreign Trade, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) jointly announcing a “MICE restart“ for domestic meetings and events. The MICE venues in Taipei quickly deployed comprehensive anti-epidemic measures, enabling postponed MICE activities to resume and the MICE industry to begin its recovery.
Because of Taiwan's excellent performance in preventing COVID-19, the World Taiwanese Chambers of Commerce (WTCC) held as per original plan for its 2020 annual congress on Sept. 29 at Taipei’s Grand Hotel. Taipei City Mayor Ko Wen-je personally attended, delivering a welcome address at the opening ceremony and also thanking the WTCC for overcoming difficulties in order to stage the annual congress as scheduled. Approximately 500 professionals attended the gathering, including almost 400 Taiwanese businesspersons who have specially returned to Taiwan from six different continents. The Mayor expressed how Taipei is an especially suitable venue for the holding of international conferences, and invited Taiwanese business professionals to return to Taipei for the staging of annual meetings in the next few years.
Mr. Walter Yeh, Congress Ambassador of Taipei City and President of the Asian Federation of Exhibition and Convention Associations (AFECA) said: “Taiwan’s effective response is attributed to its early preparedness, health expertise, government competence, and popular alertness. He also expressed confidence that the Destination Taipei "will see the fastest recovery of tourism in Asia and even the world", but that due to the severity of the ongoing pandemic 2^nd wave in much of the world, opening the country to foreign MICE visitors is still under consideration. The good news is that Taipei’s domestic tourism industry has well recovered because of its isolation and anti-pandemic measures.
Cultural diversity has made Taipei City a capital choice as host for Nuit Blanche in Asia. Nuit Blanche, a multinational event that originated in France, was first hosted in Taipei in 2016 and for the past five years has brought brilliantly creative contemporary art flowing through its neighborhoods. Due to the pandemic, Taipei City prepared specific pandemic prevention measures and became one of only four countries to host 2020 Nuit Blanche. The Nuit Blanche Taipei 2020 event was held during October 3–4 in six large-scale venues that ranged from the MRT Nangang Station to the MRT Kunyang Station, stringing together the Taipei Music Center, Taipower Nangang Depot, Nangang Bottle Cap Factory, Nangang Station, Taipei Extreme Sports Training Center, and Nanxing Park. There were 18 installation artworks, 50 performance troupes, and nine peripheral events, all providing an immersive artistic feast spread over 12 full hours, transforming Taipei into a one-night limited-edition civilian art museum and attracting more than 400 thousand participants.
 
Planners looking to host future events will be able to get detailed information through the Taiwan Aniti-Covid-19 Pavilion website, as a one-stop portal providing the latest travel and quarantine regulations as well as offering free webinars with public health experts sharing best practices used to fight Covid-19. Taipei City Government is committed to developing its MICE industry and provides a Taipei MICE Office that offers city-specific one-stop portal services including the integration of Taipei MICE resources and providing professional consultation and assistance for domestic and foreign MICE planners.
Taipei’s DMC and EMC are more than ready to provide support to MICE organizers for navigating the post-pandemic world and with reopening in progress, are looking forward to provide safer access to the destination and adapting conference and events to the new needs of MICE planning and delivery.
For more information please visit www.expopark.taipei or www.anticovid19tw.org


Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-Je gave opening remarks at the 26th World Taiwanese Chambers of Commerce (Source: Taipei City Government)


After speaking, Taiwan President Tsai Ing-Wen stood with Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-Je, WTCC President Shih Chih-Lung, and other guests for a photo (Source: Taipei City Government)


2020 Nuit Blanche Taipei held on October 3 to 4 attracted more than 400 thousand people (Source: 2020 Nuit Blanche Taipei)