The “TAIWAN Hi” marine highway (“marine highway” being the coinage for water transportation) brand launch held on June 27 proved to be a grand event. It was jointly presided over by Mr. Wen-Chung Chi, Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications (Deputy Minister Chi), Mr. Hsieh-lung Yeh, Director General of the Maritime and Port Bureau (MPB) of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications (Director General Yeh), and Mr. Chi-Yi Chang, President of the Taiwan Design Research Institute (President Chang). The event marked the beginning of a new chapter in maritime tourism. At today’s brand launch event, Director General Yeh commented that “Before the pandemic, Taiwan’s marine highway served over 13 million passengers annually, surpassing the domestic air travel volume. Therefore, maritime services deserve more attention. Taiwan’s maritime tourism has great development potential. The MPB is creating the TAIWAN Hi brand for Taiwan’s marine highway, and in the future, we will continue to promote the branding in various travel and transportation spaces across Taiwan. We hope domestic and international travelers can recognize and experience Taiwan’s high-quality marine highway. We intend to further establish a brand certification mechanism to make the TAIWAN Hi logo a guarantee of quality for maritime services.” Deputy Minister Chi stated that the Executive Yuan has launched the “Paying homage to the sea” policy to encourage Taiwanese people to have early exposure to ocean education. It is hoped that children in Taiwan can have close exposure to the ocean and ultimately develop a love and respect for the sea. It is expected that the TAIWAN Hi brand will attract more domestic and overseas travelers, thus benefiting domestic attractions and launching Taiwan tourism onto the international stage.
Taiwan is surrounded by ocean and possesses abundant and diverse marine resources. To promote Taiwan’s marine assets, the MPB has planned a new brand for maritime transportation and marine tourism called TAIWAN Hi. The branding is intended to promote the quality of maritime and passenger transportation services. By connecting the four aspects of sailing, ports, vessels, and tourism, the MPB aims to create a new marine tourism operational model to launch Taiwan’s maritime attractions onto the international stage. At today’s brand launch event, the popular singer-songwriter Suming Rupi performed his hit song “Remembering the Ocean,” creating a lively and vibrant atmosphere at the event. The singer noted that he has not been to Penghu yet but that he would now include Penghu as his top choice for travel. He hopes to take the Penghu Ferry in September and embark on an exciting sea adventure. He shared his past experiences with maritime tourism in Taiwan, noting how the design of the waiting room was memorable insofar as it encouraged travelers to look forward to the entire sea journey.
Designed by Hsin-Yu Chen, the Director of BENZHI Design Consultant Co., Ltd., the brand TAIWAN Hi combines the word TAIWAN with the friendly and lively English greeting “Hi” for a cosmopolitan flair. “Hi” also sounds like the Taiwanese word for “sea.” This brand name connotes greeting the ocean in a friendly and playful manner, bringing people closer to the sea, and encouraging everyone to experience the transformation brought about by incorporating design into maritime transportation.

The brand-new Penghu Ferry for passenger travel has an eye-catching exterior and interior design
The TAIWAN Hi project has involved cultivating brand recognition, crafting an index design, and producing compelling waiting room space and ship designs. The New Taima Ferry and Penghu Ferry, which will be inaugurated in September, are passenger-focused and designed with a focus on aesthetics to completely change people’s impression of ferry travel. The Penghu Ferry provides multiple functional spaces, including several levels of sleeping berths, family rooms, game rooms, cafes, and entertainment rooms, that offer passengers a brand-new and enjoyable onboard experience. The Budai Port Passenger Service Center and Penghu Nanhai Waiting Room completed last year serve as high-quality benchmark cases of passenger facilities. The brand signage system has been introduced for Xiao Liuqiu’s New Ship Transport Service Center and the Gushan Ferry Terminal. Additionally, the waiting room of Taitung Fugang Fishing Harbor is scheduled to officially open in July. President Chang stated, “For this marine highway project, talented designers from various fields were carefully recruited to serve the public with a ‘people-oriented’ spirit.” We hope everyone can share in the excitement and look forward to the launch of the marine highway!

TAIWAN Hi: Collaboration with multiple travel agencies to create innovative marine highway travel itineraries
The MPB invited Se-Chen Lai, President of the Taiwan Tourism Interchange Association, to share how the TAIWAN Hi project is collaborating with several travel agencies to create marine highway itineraries. She explained that notable examples of these itineraries include the 6-Day Tour to 4 Villages and 6 Islands of Matsu on the New Taima Ferry organized by Lion Travel, the Matsu Veterans Revisitation 3-Day Tour organized by Tour One Travel, the Guardian of Sea Turtles: Sustainable Love for Xiao Liuqiu 3-Day Tour organized by Phoenix Tours International, the Kinmen Tango on the Sea tour organized by Gouni International Trade, and the 3-Day Tour to 4 Islands of Southern Penghu organized by Set Tour. Director General Ye stated that the MPB will continue to collaborate with relevant industries to provide domestic and international travelers with innovative maritime tourism experiences and wonderful journeys.

Contact person: Section Chief Wen-Yun Tu, Maritime Affairs Division

Contact number：02-89788020