Hsinchu City Government opened a tourism pavilion at Singapore's NATAS Holidays 2026 fair on August 21, making a deliberate pitch to draw the island city's rapidly expanding community of independent travelers into an itinerary that goes beyond Taipei.
The exhibition runs through August 23 at Singapore Expo — daily from 10:00 to 21:30, at booth 3H07 in the Taiwan Pavilion — under the banner "Hsinchu Way" (玩味新竹). The city is presenting itself through three frames: hands-on cultural experiences, local food, and sightseeing. The approach reflects a calculated effort to build Hsinchu a second international identity beyond its standing as Taiwan's semiconductor capital.
"Hsinchu is not only a tech city, but also a diverse city with history, culture, natural scenery, and distinctive food," Mayor Ann Kao said. The pavilion covers the full breadth of what the city has to offer — from cultural crafts and family activities to coastal scenery, heritage sites, desserts, and coffee — alongside its three most recognizable local products: rice noodles, gong wan pork meatballs, and glassware crafts. The pitch is that visitors can design a bespoke Hsinchu itinerary tailored entirely to their own interests.
Singaporean FIT Travelers Signal Strong Demand for Deeper Taiwan Trips
The targeting is backed by data. Taiwan's Tourism Administration reports that 177,501 Singaporeans arrived in Taiwan between January and May 2026. Of those, 144,560 — 81% of the total — traveled for leisure. The core demographic, travelers aged 30 to 39, showed a strong preference for self-planned travel, with 86% choosing independent itineraries over group tours.
Mayor Kao said the campaign was shaped around that preference specifically, presenting Hsinchu's attractions, cuisine, cultural experiences, and shopping in a format suited to travelers who build their own routes.
Gong Wan Game and Custom EasyCard Extend Hsinchu's Brand
The pavilion's most prominent interactive feature is a game called "Make Your Own Gong Wan Soup" — gong wan (摃丸) being Hsinchu's signature pork meatball — in which participants toss ping-pong balls from a fixed distance into a nine-cell grid of bowls. The game is paired with photo opportunities designed to generate shareable content and deepen visitors' association between the city and its most iconic dish.
For a takeaway, Hsinchu is distributing a custom three-dimensional EasyCard — Taiwan's standard reloadable transit card — imprinted with local icons including rice noodles and meatballs. The card works on Taiwan's public transport system, meaning a visitor who picks one up at the fair can use it on an actual trip. Mayor Kao described it as a souvenir travelers can "see, take home, and actually use" — a deliberate strategy to keep Hsinchu's brand present long after the fair closes.
Industry Matchmaking on August 24 Targets Singapore's Tour Operators
The consumer-facing exhibition is only half of Hsinchu's Singapore campaign. On August 24, city officials will participate in a Taiwan tourism promotion event and hold structured matchmaking sessions with Singapore-based travel operators. The goal is to move beyond brand impressions and work directly with agencies to package Hsinchu's attractions, food, and cultural experiences into sellable tour products — turning the city from a name encountered at a fair into a destination that appears on actual itineraries.
