Taiwan is redefining cultural tourism, combining history, modern creativity, and sustainable practices into captivating attractions.

STORY AND PHOTOS BY CORY HOWELL HAMADA AND LILLYGOL SEDAGHAT

Just blocks away from Taipei 101, the Songshan Cultural and Creative Park stands as one of Taiwan’s major creative hubs. Once the site of a tobacco factory, it has been transformed into a spacious, multi-functional cultural center. The park’s layout reflects both its industrial past and its new role as a space for events and emerging creatives.

Known locally in Taipei as “Songyan   (松菸),” the park – which received 8 million visitors in 2023 – offers a vibrant snapshot of Taiwan’s current cultural landscape. Events there range from Taipei Blockchain Week and the Taiwan Lantern Festival to small-scale artisan bakeries and student art exhibitions.

The structures of early Japanese modernist architecture preserved from the former tobacco factory are as much of a draw as the rotating exhibits and pop-up shops, making places like Songyan part of the growing trend of “cultural tourism,” where both visitors and residents can “experience and consume the tangible and intangible cultural attractions/products in a tourism destination,” as defined by the UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO).

According to the World Travel and Tourism Council, cultural tourism accounts for nearly 40% of all tourism worldwide. Market researcher Future Data Stats projects that the global cultural tourism market will grow by 16.5% annually to reach a total value of over US$45 billion in 2030.

With the rapid global development of cultural tourism comes concerns that increasing numbers of visitors may have negative impacts on destination areas, affecting the quality of life of residents and contributing to the loss of local identity. However, Taiwan’s cultural and creative parks like Songyan operate with a model capable of stimulating tourism while also developing the local community’s intellectual and creative capacity.

Balance is key

Songyan opened in 2011, following a push to strengthen Taiwan’s creative industry that started with the “Challenge 2008” development plan, launched by the government in 2002. Originally designed as a strategy for sustainable development where defunct industrial facilities are repurposed into areas for leisure and entertainment, cultural and creative parks have become a space where creative industries and businesses cluster in a public venue.

“The idea of having a cultural and creative park is actually borrowed from the United Kingdom,” says Jing Jing Young, business development department manager at Songyan. “I believe it was a member of the Taipei City government who brought the idea back to Taiwan. But what makes us different is how we use it.”

Songyan and other cultural and creative parks in Taiwan carefully manage space to balance between commercial and creative uses. According to Young, Songyan gives its spaces one of four major classifications: commercial use, collaborative space for administrative and office use, and long-term and short-term creative use for rotating exhibitions, pop-up shops, and local designers. Parks supervised by the Ministry of Culture – including Huashan 1914 Creative Park and Hualien Cultural and Creative Industries Park – limit catering space to less than 15% of the total floor area “to avoid over-commercialization and adulterating the essence of culture.”

By allowing for a high proportion of creative and cultural spaces, the model caters to the growing number of tourists seeking “authentic” experiences when they travel. In the 2023 Booking.com Sustainable Travel Research Report, 75% of the over 33,000 survey participants responded that they “seek authentic experiences that are representative of the local culture.”

The mixed use of space and rotation of exhibits serves the dual purpose of giving more local creatives the opportunity to share their work with a broader audience while providing fresh content for repeat visitors. Likewise, the historical setting of cultural and creative parks acts as a type of permanent attraction that provides a sense of local identity and culture.

Beyond Songyan’s history as a tobacco factory, Huashan 1914 Creative Park was once a sake factory, and Hualien Cultural and Creative Industries Park is a retrofitted winery. Other examples include former sugar refineries and breweries.

“We need to have those historical sites preserved to have those memories kept, and remind us of what this place was like,” Young says. “We can have more understanding of how the people used to work here or live here.”

A thriving brand

The model of cultural and creative parks offers the benefits of tourism, including culture exchange, leisure, and entertainment, while also stimulating local creativity, according to the 2024 International Symposium on Education, Culture and Social Sciences.

“Songshan Cultural and Creative Park is my go-to place to get creativity, shop for different designs, and get inspiration,” says Kuo An-an, creator of the design brand nuGen Lifestyle. “There’s always something new and always something to learn.”

Kuo’s career breakthrough came when she first exhibited at Songyan in 2021, though she had been a regular visitor to the venue for many years prior. “When I was a student, I went there very often, actually, even though I lived in Tainan,” she says. “But I’d visit whenever I went to Taipei.”

In 2019, she was hit by inspiration when she visited the Pop Up Asia trade fair. “They had one slogan that really caught my attention: ‘Let what you like become your life.’ I saw this, and I went in, and I asked the staff, ‘How can I exhibit here? I’m planning to launch a brand soon.’”

Kuo developed a line of bags, coasters, and accessories from upcycled clothing threads and launched her lifestyle brand, nuGen, at the park’s Creative Expo in 2021. Her creations draw inspiration from her family and local culture, serving as a way to share Taiwan’s identity with a broader audience.

Soon after her exhibition concluded, Kuo received an email from the owner of Design Pin, a design store located in Songyan. “And she was like, ‘I saw your stuff at the exhibition. Would you like to put your product in our stores?’ So we started to put our collection in there from 2021 to now. And it’s still there. They’ve been very supportive. They support lots of different creative artists.”

Cultural and creative parks serving as physical spaces for industry aggregation are one of the keys to creative incubation. According to Songyan’s Young, stories like Kuo’s are representative of one of the major goals of the park, where inspiration, exhibition, and connection to clients can all happen in the same place.

“If they don’t have a shop, but they want to have a direct connection and meet their customers, Songyan can be their first stop to meet their market,” Young explains. “And once they are mature enough, they can go to the next level. That would be our goal, to incubate a designer from a little brand to a mature one.”

Challenges of overtourism

Songyan expects to receive as many as 10 million visitors in 2024, a 25% increase from 2023. The sharp increase in visitor traffic may lead to overtourism, which the UNWTO defines as an impact “that excessively influences perceived quality of life of citizens and/or quality of visitors’ experiences in a negative way.” Effects of overtourism can include traffic, excessive noise, and pollution, and can also lead to a loss of resources and local identity.

Globally, many popular destinations are already struggling with overtourism. In Europe, Amsterdam, Venice, and Marseilles are considering or have already begun to limit the number of visitors in certain areas. In Japan, Kyoto’s city council banned tourists from visiting certain parts of the popular Gion geisha district in 2024. Frustrated by tourists taking selfies, one village in Japan’s Yamanashi prefecture simply built a wall to block a popular view of Mount Fuji.

Taiwan’s cultural and creative parks are also not immune to some of the challenges that can come with overtourism. Young notes that Songyan staff occasionally receive complaints about noise and traffic, especially during large events. To mitigate such impact, the park manages music types, event timing, and foot traffic flow to prevent overcrowding. The sharp rise in visitors, coupled with overflow from the nearby 40,000-capacity Taipei Dome that opened in 2023, raises concerns about increased pressure on the park’s infrastructure, environment, and overall visitor experience.

Young adds that Songyan’s growing popularity is resulting in an increasing demand for exhibition and creative spaces. “For the first ten years, I would say we didn’t get to choose who participates because we want people to come exhibit here in our park,” she says. “But now we have a lot of people who want to come, so we have to carefully select who participates and displays their exhibitions because visitors expect to see something new.”

The demand for space may make it more difficult for emerging brands and artists to find a physical location to share their work. Moreover, with Taiwan’s various parks managed by different entities, including public-private partnerships, one of the challenges seems to be how to encourage tourists and visitors to go to other cultural and creative parks. In comparison, Huashan 1914 Creative Park, Taipei’s other major cultural and creative park, received just over two million visitors in 2021.

With the growing desire among tourists for authentic experiences, the model suggests that investing in the development of local creativity is, in fact, a way to stimulate an area’s cultural tourism offerings. Although Taiwan’s cultural and creative parks do not offer a solution for all the negative impacts of overtourism, they represent a fundamentally different model for cultural tourism, where the destination itself can sustainably draw from and contribute to the local community.

American Culture at Songyan

To learn more about American culture and innovation, visitors to Songyan can stop by the American Innovation Center (AIC). The AIC aims to foster digital learning, disseminate cutting-edge information about innovation, and highlight evolving trends in U.S. innovation and culture.

Built around four core themes – innovation, entrepreneurship, digitalization, and culture and design – the center offers the public, independent designers, and students access to the latest curricula and resources. The initiative encourages creative thinking and engagement with the digital economy, with the ultimate goal of becoming a model for innovation in Asia.

Aligned with the global network of American Corners, the AIC features a comprehensive collection of books, e-books, DVDs, and online databases covering topics such as U.S. culture, art and design, innovation, entrepreneurship, English education, travel, and digital learning. The facility is outfitted with both PC and Mac computer workstations, 3D scanners and printers, multimedia tools, and video conferencing equipment, providing a dynamic environment for exploration and collaboration.