The ECCT's Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) committee hosted a lunch on the subjects of sustainable tourism and water conservation. The lunch featured presentations by Julien Huang, Product & Public Relationship Manager from MyTaiwanTour and Sam Sheu, Senior Corporate Relations Manager from Diageo.

In her presentation, Julien Huang said that MyTaiwanTour serves over 3,000 customers every month, including international celebrities and business groups, from 70 countries.

The core value of MyTaiwanTour is to allow more travellers to have a deeper and more immersive experience of Taiwan, whereby the island's neglected culture, land, history, and art are injected into the itinerary experience and local partners are supported.

According to Huang, the future of the tourism industry should not only consider the economic, social, and environmental impacts, but also the needs of tourists, tourism operators and local people. For customers, this means respect for the local quality of life and natural ecology. For industry, this means maintaining the quality of the travel experience and promoting the beauty of Taiwan to the world. For local people, this means maintaining local culture and the environment.

MyTaiwanTour tours incorporate educational elements related to food farming, land-friendly procurement and the difficulties facing farmers and farm workers that rely on seasonal work. There is also a focus on social problems, such as ageing and youth migration away from aboriginal communities, poor educational resources in rural areas and the revival of native crops.

In his presentation, Sam Sheu introduced Diageo's "Water of Life" programme, part of the company's global environmental protection efforts. Under the programme, started in 2008, Diageo Taiwan has been actively invested in a number of water conservation activities. This has included planting trees, revitalising clean water wetlands, encouraging environmentally-friendly farming, integrating agricultural marketing for food farmers and environmental education promotion.

For example, since 2016, Diageo has been working to maintain clean water resources and revitalise natural wetlands. In 2019 Diageo employees and friends assisted in the construction of riverside trails and the maintenance of riverside landscapes. Using advanced ecological engineering methods, the 250-strong team restored the self-purification ability of the stream. They also paved wood-chip trails and planted saplings in order to restore the natural beauty of the river and surrounding area.

Thanks in part to the company's efforts, the Jinshan Qingshui Wetland's cultivated area expanded from 0.5 hectares to 23.5 hectares, thereby helping to boost agricultural production. Conservation efforts have also helped to create an ideal environment for an increasing number of migratory birds.

The company is also engaged in beach clean-up efforts, using more advanced machinery and tools to remove rubbish more effectively. As part of its education efforts, it holds activities to teach children about farming and ecology.  

This year, Diageo has been working with local stakeholders to reintroduce three species of indigenous fish species to Sun Moon Lake in central Taiwan.