TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – In the midst of an ongoing strike by EVA Air flight attendants, the airline is still planning to begin its new flight route to Matsuyama Airport (松山空港) in the Japanese prefecture of Ehime (愛媛県), which is scheduled to open July 18.

Ehime Prefecture’s Governor Tokihiro Nakamura (中村時廣) on Thursday (July 4) expressed his confidence that EVA airlines would prioritize the inaugural flight to mark the new route from Taoyuan International Airport to Matsuyama.

Governor Nakamura, who is a former mayor of Matsuyama, has been a major proponent of fostering closer ties between Ehime prefecture and Taiwan, and is hopeful that the new flight route will encourage more cooperation and travel between the Taiwan and Japan’s island of Shikoku (四国).

Liberty Times reports that Ehime prefecture is also preparing several new tourism programs and travel incentives, which the local government hopes will attract young Taiwanese travelers to the prefecture.

Currently the ratio of Japanese tourists visiting Taiwan versus Taiwanese tourists visiting Japan is approximately 70 percent versus 30 percent. Governor Nakamura hopes that with more direct flight routes between Taiwan and different regions of Japan, the number of Taiwanese travelers will increase to a balanced 50/50 ratio.

Matsuyama montage (Wikimedia Commons Image)