Activity aims to lure Taiwan youth to invest in Hainan

When night blankets the island of Hainan, Qiongtai Gourmet Street in Haikou's Tailong Commercial Zone becomes a hot venue for both local foodies and inbound visitors. However, Tailong Commercial Zone is by no means content with its current status. From June 18 to 20, it kicked off a special entrepreneurship exhibition event to help youth from Taiwan start a business in Hainan and lure more of them to settle in. 

During the three-day event, Qiongtai Gourmet Street also launched a range of fun activities such as food promotions, food-themed videos competitions, and a food-eating competition.

Since 2009, Xu Qingchao, founder of Tailong Commercial Zone, started to promote business investment among Taiwan youth. In 2017, the Taiwan Straits Innovation and Entrepreneurship Base was launched in Tailong, the first of its kind to serve young entrepreneurs from both sides of the Taiwan Straits. Since then, a large number of young people from Taiwan started to seek business opportunities in Tailong, which gradually become a renowned gourmet venue. 

To date, there are 400 restaurants in Tailong Commercial Zone, with 50 entrepreneurs hailing from Taiwan.

Foodies scout for delicacies on Qiongtai Gourmet Street in Tailong Commercial Zone of Haikou. [Photo/hinews.cn]

"I have been in Haikou from Taipei for three years, and now I have opened four restaurants on the gourmet street," said Huang Jiexuan, one of the Taiwan-based entrepreneurs.

Three years ago, Hang and his family came to Hainan for a visit. They found that Hainan and Taiwan have many similarities in their food culture, and they were also attracted by Hainan's development prospects. As a result, they chose to stay in Haikou to open a restaurant.

According to Pan Zehua, a person-in-charge of the development planning department of Tailong Commercial Zone, there are currently 100 restaurant on Qiongtai Gourmet Street, including a dozen of restaurants offering Taiwan delicacies. 

"We hope to attract young entrepreneurs from Taiwan to come to Hainan in various ways, giving them preferential treatment and assistance in terms of rent and living," said Pan.

These measures will not only improve the success rate of introducing Taiwanese youth entrepreneurship projects, but also provides a good place for Hainan residents to enjoy tasty Taiwan food and offers an important window for local people to know more about Taiwan, added him.

The Tailong Commercial Zone was established in 1989, with its Qiongtai Gourmet Street built in 2004. The gourmet street has since become a household name in Haikou.

A young man from Taiwan poses for a photo with his beverage booth set up on Qiongtai Gourmet Street. [Photo/hinews.cn]