On April 28, Tainan City Mayor Huang Wei-che personally handed out English-friendly Logos to 53 passenger transportation drivers who completed the government-sponsored language training courses. Since Tainan’s tourism and food service industries have suffered direct impact from the COVID-19 pandemic, the city government is encouraging workers in these areas to improve their language skills so that they can expand their service market. Taxi drivers are urged to take English, Japanese, or Korean language courses. The Mayor expressed that he hopes this will help boost Tainan’s brand image as a welcoming, high-quality international tourism city.
Huang remarked that as an international tourism city, Tainan welcomes visitors from all over the world. Yet since flights are temporarily suspended during the pandemic, tourism-related business owners and passenger transportation drivers can use this downtime to take training courses organized by the Ministry of Transportation and Communications to improve professional skills and exchange experiences. Workers in these industries are encouraged to sign up for English, Japanese, or Korean language courses (at the moment, the English course term is near its end, but Japanese and Korean course terms are about to start). The city government will continue to understand the needs of workers and organize more courses to help enhance their professional skills. Hopefully these measures will improve Tainan City's service quality and lead to a different city image.
Tainan City Taxi and Passenger Transportation Services Business Association Board Director Han Ji-cang pointed out that in the past when drivers picked up Japanese and Korean passengers, they could only respond to the travelers in English. Han thanked the strong support from the Tourism Bureau and their decision to not only carry on the existing English courses but also offer additional courses for Japanese and Korean. Drivers with foreign language skills have extra advantage in the market and are assets to Tainan's tourism industry, as they can leverage their language skills to provide better services and recommend suitable travel plans to visitors according to their conditions and preferences.
According to the Tourism Bureau, Tainan welcomed approximately 640,000 visitors in 2019, which is 20% more than 2018, and the percentage of visitors from Japan and Korea increased 34% and 32% respectively. Due to this growth trend, Tainan received subsidies from the central government to start Japanese and Korean language courses in May. The government will also publish pointing books for communication in English, Japanese and Korean. The practical course content is expected to enhance the drivers’ skillsets, differentiate them in the market, and eventually set up Tainan’s image as a friendly international tourism destination.