Surfing Waves

A few close friends are starting a surf tour package in Taiwan. We just want to get a general feel of how much you would normally pay for the trip?

The package will include accommodation, pick up, delivery from airport and the surf spots. Will also have road trips to all the touristy places around the area. General sightseeing and water sports....

Most likely it will be divided into 3 price range from budget to premium.

Let me start it off, I would pay as little as possible! So around the $50-100 range, but hey that's just me and I'm stingy. I try and squeeze as much surf trips into a year as I possibly can.

Seriously?

Yes! I mean you can't compare it to waves in Bali. But it is still a fantastic country and I love it there.

I'm hoping my friends will make it happen and then I'll go work for them!

Where I live non withstanding, are there persons who consider Taiwan a surfing destination and if so does the reach of that consideration extend beyond strictly regional (Shanghai, Bejing, Tokyo, Seoul, HK)? I imagine that if Taiwan has decent waves and I was a surfer living in one of those markets I might consider a surfing holiday there if that was the extent of my budget, but if I had more time or money I would most likely extend my horizions and if I didn't live in one of the aforementioned markets, I wouldn't consider it at all. I have been to Taiwan and while there are definite positives, it isn't a first choice vacation destination and you'd have your work cut out to convince the public of otherwise IMO...this coming from an expatriate in Asia for a total of 14 years in Japan, Philiphines, Jakarta and now Bali. Cheers.

Big H! Thank you for the feedback. Greatly appreciated. I've also uncertainty about the idea, but what can I say. My friends are really into the idea and I'm just providing as much help as I can. I wish they can succeed and they really believe if they don't try, they will never know.

I'll discuss with them further about your concerns.

However, there are definitely potential market with the growing tourist market from China and I believe most of the tourist are from China. But I'm not sure that there are many surfers from there

Mainland Chinese tourists here love bodyboards....saw one take a rental surfboard out and got as far as the shorebreak (Dreamland) before being absolutley destroyed....I scolded the rental guy as we both stood there and watched the scene unfold....maybe there is a big Chinese surfing public but I've not seen it....good luck to your friends.

This is the most popular beach break in Taiwan :p The surfing season starts from June to end of October. You'd be surprised at how many mainland Chinese there are over there!

The photos are taken on a normal day during summer...... Actually it was taken early in the morning so not even peak yet. There's about 2-3 beaches around 5 minutes drive and they are all like that. Don't let the photos put you off, because this is one of the worse place to surf in Taiwan. But just because it is close to Taipei, EVERYONE goes there......

Yeah unfortunately we have so many tragic accident due to shop owners renting foamie out when there's a typhoon swell. It's like weekly I hear people drowning or getting rescued. I think most Chinese people are not aware of rips and how dangerous the ocean is, that is also including myself when I first started.

Asians like the beach at lower sun intensity levels....my experience the braces are most crowded with Asians before 08:30 and after 5pm. That is alot of people on a ripple....let me amend my previous answer with your information as a considering factor to"I would never go to Taiwan specifically to surf".

Let's dispel a few thoughts about Taiwan surf.
In season it runs the same swells that hit the Hawaiian islands fresh from the Arctic Aleutian storms, there is little or no continental shelf so big NE Hawaiian swells at the right beaches, ( which will not be crowded) semi tropical to almost tropical down south.The other season if a Typhoon is parked east of the Philippines then great south swells on the SE coast.
In terms of typhoons providing surf yes and no, if they are well out to sea or off japan or the Philippines good swell, in the China Sea then there is possibility for rare West coast swell.
HOWEVER should a typhoon be too close to shore ( in maritime authorities view) all coastal water activities are banned!
For good surfers the surf is not crowded as the hordes go to the recreational beaches especially near Taipei.
This is a break near Taidong/Taitung and was one of about 8 beaches that were of this level in the same area.

Further south at Kenting's main tourist beach Nanwan things are a little more like the tourist beaches near Taipei, crowds roped off swimming areas and inflatable banana boat rides but go even two hundred metres away and you can get good surf

There are surf shops and antique equipment can be hired
There are days when the signs tell something is a little different in this location or that you can expected the unexpected
Taiwan is actually a very good surf destination. Indonesia is the most consistent with a huge arc of islands to share the swells.
Hawaii is the homeland of surfing and deserves it, Taiwan will surprise surf adventurers.
Fortunately surfing is not a focal sport like elsewhere. I will go back there soon for another trip. My third.
Heaven help them if mainland China or even the locals catch onto surfing in a big way beyond a splash and giggle.

The surfer whacking the lip is my friend Kieth Kajioka from Hawaii that moved to Taiwan to open his own surf shop / hostel / tour guide. We were all wondering why, but I guess he was way ahead of the game.

Nice one he is a nice guy I was pleased to meet him, got more photos, since I couldn't shoot myself

waikikikichan wrote:The surfer whacking the lip is my friend Kieth Kajioka from Hawaii that moved to Taiwan to open his own surf shop / hostel / tour guide. We were all wondering why, but I guess he was way ahead of the game.

I'm shocked, why would "surfers" move out of Hawaii? Never been there but it sounds like a perfect place to surf.

A Hawaiian scuba diver instructor has contacted us and wants to join us. He said he wants a change in lifestyle!

Your friends should hire Jaffa....he's done everything but set the hook....Taiwan...who knew!?!

SsssssssH,

It would be an honor to have uncle Jaffa in Taiwan!

been there done that, highlight was the flesh eating fish at the hot springs.
They eat all the dead skin off your feet!

waikikikichan wrote:The surfer whacking the lip is my friend Kieth Kajioka from Hawaii that moved to Taiwan to open his own surf shop / hostel / tour guide. We were all wondering why, but I guess he was way ahead of the game.

Here is Keith again and you might know the other guy too they surfed and hung together a lot

BaNZ, who do you see the market as being? For example, in Australia the vast majority of 'surfing tours' are sold to backpackers or beginners - not people who have travelled to Australia for the purpose of surfing (or who live here anyway), but as an activity they add onto their trip. I imagine most of the tourists in Taiwan are not even thinking about adding a surfing trip to their itinerary (Australia being an 'outdoors' destination; Taiwan being more of an indoors trip - acknowledging you have a pretty good mountainous area). Compare that to Bali, Phillipines, Maldives etc which people will travel to for the express purpose of surfing; or who go for a beach holiday like to Bali and are happy to surf a bit as well.

So perhaps the beginner market would be locals or if you can connect to a tourist company an add it as a one or two day extension to their tours (eg Intrepid or Gecko etc).

For the more advanced surfer, I can definitely see people from HK prepared to go to good surf for a weekend and take the 1hr flight rather than the 8hr flight to Bali or Australia. Given their time frames, a fully organised trip right from airport pick up to board hire to accom would probably be pretty attractive. Price wont be a huge issue, within reason, as they are paying for convenience. (I used to live in HK). Here you are probably appealing mostly to the expat HK market, but some HK locals as well.

I'm not sure about other markets - Japan possibly as per HK (waikikichan might know if people would be willing to travel); China has some surfers but not many. The focus perhaps should be more on expats in those other countries (including Sth Korea, China, Vietnam maybe) who already surf; or maybe the younger market.

Your friends may have all this planned out - but I think pricing is almost the last thing to set, oddly. Figure out who will be buying it, will they be price conscious or prefer value or a few luxuries etc.

My friend here in Japan already runs surf tours to Taiwan. That's why I haven't chimed in on the poll. But a funny thing I noticed here is if you make the price of your service, food/meal, or product too cheap, the customer feel that's it's cheap for a reason. Meaning " it's not as good compared to the competitor that charges more ".

While I was on holiday in Taiwan I met a lot of expat coming from all over SE Asia. Especially from China. They all had the same issue of they can't rent a vehicle so it isn't easy to get to surf spot. There's nearly no public transport to those areas and even if there is, it is quite a distance to walk to. The spots that they can easily get to are like the photos that I've uploaded earlier, it is definitely not something you would want to surf at. I thought about focusing on that market because my only advantage is that I can communicate in English.

I didn't think HK would be good customers, because after all most of them can speak Mandarin and can get around Taiwan fairly easily. I was more of hoping of targeting potential customers that doesn't speak Mandarin at all. But maybe it is as you say dtc that if they have limited time and there's pickup from airport, then it might be more attractive.

I'm aware that there are many Japanese surfers and tours in Taiwan already so I won't be targeting that market. I believe they have been around for a long time and have a good reputation in Japan so I definitely don't have a chance there. Plus I know these people and some of them are my friends, I wouldn't want to compete against them.

With regards to the Chinese surfers, there aren't many. My friends want to focus on the tourist, it won't be a pure surf tour. It will be more of sightseeing where they will add a bit of surf coaching into it. The idea is that we will create two website, one focus on Chinese tourism with a bit of surfing. The other will be focus on expats in SE Asia and more towards surfing.

Pricing is a headache for us, because of the cost of accommodation. In TW there are hostels that easily cost up to few hundred US dollars a night or some that are less than 10$. I don't know what people would normally go for when they go on holiday. So I'll probably offer a budget and a premium option.