The pandemic has hit travel agents hard. Now they’re reorienting to the new market, and bouncing back. Some are diversifying into local products, food and drink, and even the hotel business. Let’s head to Kinmen to see a new souvenir store launched by one of Taiwan’s biggest travel companies.

Stepping through the grand front door, you enter a large wood-furnished foyer. It looks like the entrance to a country hotel, but it’s a souvenir shop.

Inside, strips of dried meat, a Kinmen delicacy. Travel agents have had the worst of COVID, with devastating losses for coming on two years now. This agency is working with Kinmen Animal Products Research Institute to launch a restaurant and souvenir store to cater to island visitors.

Li Chia-yin
Travel lifestyle brand manager
The company is now moving towards travel lifestyle products. We hope to sell 30,000 of these souvenir pieces in one year. If we make a projection on those numbers, then I hope the company can bring in about NT$100 million in one year.

Many other travel agencies are also transitioning into new areas…

Lion Travel has opened a souvenir store in Kinmen. Richmond Tours has invested in an online retail platform, in collaboration with a celebrated pastry maker, and has launched a souvenir line. Phoenix Tours is pivoting towards ventures as diverse as food and drink, fitness, and hotels. Cola Tour has invested in an online platform too, offering members high-end products like Penghu seafood and Japanese honey melons.

Chen Chi-yin
Travel agent vice CEO
Since COVID-19 broke out in 2019, we have been considering the true essence of a travel agency, and our guiding principles. One thing we know is that travel is essentially an extension of life. So we started looking for lots of small local farmers in Taiwan, and their amazing special products, and we’ve packaged them up to recommend them to our Taiwanese compatriots.

One company told us that since COVID struck, local specialty sales have grown to occupy 20% of profits. They hope their new online platform combined with a resurgence of group travel will swell business for the second half of this year.