TAIPEI (TVBS News) — Cola Tour (可樂旅遊) announced on Tuesday (May 6) that it sold out nearly 1,000 spots for its newly introduced one- and two-day Baishatun Mazu (白沙屯媽祖) pilgrimage tours a month before departure. This pilgrimage, a significant cultural event in Taiwan, allows participants to engage with the island's rich traditions through Cola Tour's services.
Cola Tour highlighted the unique aspect of the Baishatun Mazu pilgrimage, where the route changes annually. To accommodate this, the tour company provides buses for tracking and shuttle services, ensuring participants can fully experience the pilgrimage. Tour leaders, often devout believers with pilgrimage experience, enrich the journey by sharing cultural insights and legendary tales of Baishatun Mazu.
Also, Cola Tour reported over 300 bookings for its one-day Dajia Mazu (大甲媽祖) pilgrimage tour, with expectations of doubling tour product sales next year. Meanwhile, Lion Travel (雄獅旅遊) noted that the total number of participants in this year's Dajia and Baishatun Mazu events exceeded 3,000, reflecting a 50% increase in business compared to last year.
The significance of these events extends beyond Taiwan. Discovery Channel ranks Taiwan's annual Lunar March Mazu pilgrimage alongside the Vatican's Christmas Mass and the Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca as one of the world's top three religious events. In a bid to promote Taiwan's unique tourism activities, the Tourism and Travel Bureau of Taichung City (台中市政府觀旅局), in collaboration with the Tourism Administration (觀光署) and the governments of Miaoli and Changhua counties, invited a German media delegation and French influencer Rémy Gils (吉雷米) to experience the Dajia Mazu pilgrimage.