Since the Taiwan government began implementing its policy of a two-day weekend in 2001 (before then most people worked on Saturday) the general public has a longer weekend holiday and can enjoy taking leisure trips on the weekend. This year the COA has selected some quality leisure farms and wine villages to encourage the development of leisure agriculture.

At its section titled "Taiwan Leisure Farms," the COA has selected ten leisure farms, four agriculture-related organizations or leisure parks, eight wine villages and 18 national forest recreation areas run by COA's Forest Bureau to introduce their holiday packages to ITF visitors.

The COA notes that they are quite confident about the ten privately run leisure parks they have picked up for this ITF, knowing they offer high quality holiday packages for both local tourists and foreign visitors. The 14 selected leisure farm or leisure parks include Shangrila Leisure Farm in Yilan, Green World Ecological Farm in Hsinchu, Flying Cow Ranch in Miaoli, Peikuan Leisure Farm in Yilan, Toucheng Leisure Farm and many others.

Wine villages are also making a big splash in the COA's exhibition this year. The eght wine villages selected mostly produce fruit wines (two produce red wine and one makes Japanese Sake, one Rose wine, and the rest various types of fruit wine) as they were all fruit farms before they got into the wine business.

The COA is not the only agency possessing large tourism resources in the public sector in Taiwan. Many government departments also hold large tourism, such as the Cabinet-level Veterans Affairs Commission (VAC). The VAC owns eight farms island-wide, all of which feature great natural landscape. The most famous is probably Cingjing Veterans Farm, which features a large herd of sheep in its pastures. The eight VAC farms and forest parks are Mingchih Forest Recreation Area, Cilan Forest Recreation Park, Wiling Farm, Fushoushan Farm, Cingjing Farm, Chiayi Farm, Kaohsiung Farm, and Donghe Farm. To explore the beauty of rural landscape and countryside life do not forget to visit COA and VAC's pavilions.

In addition to the large pavilions of COA and VAC, local governments have also worked with local holiday operators and the local lodging industry to promote local tourism. Almost every county has its own pavilion in this year's ITF, and this is a good time for foreign visitors to collect local information and best offers. Yilan, Miaoli and Hualien, three counties which rely heavily on tourism in their local economies, have all had booked large spaces at the fair to promote their tourism.

This year Pingtung County has benefited from the local blockbuster film "Cape No. 7", and many packages are based on motifs in the film. "Cape No. 7" was shot at Kenting, Pingtung County, and to date the film's box office has exceeded NT$ 400 million in Taiwan. Local holiday operators now are introducing one-day packages to show visitors around all the shooting sets of the films at a price of about NT$ 1,000.

The Taiwan Railway Administration (TRA) and Taiwan High Speed Rail Corporation (THSRC) have both designed special offers. TRA worked with Taiwan Youth Hostels to introduce special packages which allow visitors unlimited access to TRA railway service (except Tsechiang Express) over a three-day period as well as a one night stay at a Youth Hostel at NT$ 899.

THSRC is also working with local holiday makers to introduce a two-day package to Taichung, Tainan or Kaohsiung, and buyers can enjoy up to 50 percent off with these packages.