Taiwan, Okinawa join hands in tourism promotion in New York

New York, May 7 (CNA) Taiwan and Japan's Okinawa Prefecture, located just a 90-minute flight apart, held a tourism promotion event in New York on Thursday to encourage North American travelers to visit both destinations as part of a multi-stop Asia itinerary.

At the "2026 Taiwan x Okinawa Two Destinations, One Journey" tourism promotion event, Tom Lee (李志強), head of Taiwan's representative office in New York, said it was the first time Taiwan and Okinawa had cooperated on a joint tourism promotion campaign.

"People may wonder why Taiwan and Okinawa want to work together, but the answer is clear when you look at a map," Lee said.

He noted that Okinawa is closer to Taipei than to Tokyo, with a flight from Taipei to Okinawa taking about 90 minutes, while a flight from Okinawa to Tokyo takes more than two hours.

"Promoting tourism together is a good idea," Lee said of the event organized by the New York office of Taiwan's Tourism Administration and the Okinawa Convention & Visitors Bureau.

Jin Juang (莊靜真), director of the New York office, said travelers from the eastern United States generally value cultural experiences, culinary exploration and in-depth travel.

Taiwan and Okinawa complement each other well in terms of tourism offerings in those respects, Juang said, and the short flight time connecting the two makes them ideal for flexible and diverse Asia travel itineraries.

Tatsunori Uezu, a planning director at Okinawa's tourism promotion division, said Okinawa was recently selected by The New York Times as one of its "52 Places to Go in 2026," calling it a major milestone for both Okinawa and Japan.

He said Okinawa hoped to build on that attention to attract more international visitors to explore the islands.