World Indigenous Tourism Summit heads to Taiwan in 2024

Taiwan will be hosting the third World Indigenous Tourism Summit (WITS) in March 2024.

The announcement was unveiled at the second WITS, which took place 13-16 March in Perth and the first time it was hosted in Australia. The summit was hosted by Western Australian Indigenous Tourism Operators' Council, one of the founding members of the World Indigenous Tourism Alliance (WINTA), with over 630 persons from 21 countries in attendance.

WITS is the brainchild of the WINTA, which was established in 2012 by associations from Australia, Canada, Nepal, New Zealand, the Sápmi Lands and the US. The global organisation of indigenous persons aims to promote indigenous rights in the tourism sector, consistent with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Icyang Parod, Minister of Taiwan's Council of Indigenous Peoples (CIP), said, "Various spheres of indigenous persons lives are closely related to tourism. In these spheres, indigenous persons can guide and explain tours from an indigenous perspective, and share in tourism's benefits. Through development of the tourism industry, indigenous persons can increase their incomes with a sustainable business model."

Not only is Taiwan an important tourist destination in Asia, he added, it is home to 16 indigenous groups. Language, archaeological, genetic, and paper mulberry research have indicated that those in the Philippines, Malaysia, Palau, the Marshall Islands, Madagascar, and New Zealand migrated from Taiwan.

Patrick Gorman, an Australian MP and Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister, also stressed the importance of Taiwan is an important trading partner of Australia, and both also have a long history of encouraging people-to-people contacts in areas such as the arts, culture, education, science, sport, all sectors of the economy which are so closely linked to tourism.

At the summit, Taiwan's delegation also participated in roundtables with government agencies, youth, and scholars while CIP also promoted Taiwan indigenous tourism through mobile tourism information, online tours, and indigenous music, dance and other activities.