In the early days of Japanese rule, Taiwan was known as "the island of savages and malaria." It was only after social order came into being and the armed Taiwanese resistance to Japanese rule gave up their weapons in favor of negotiations that systematized travel infrastructure came into place and a tourism industry developed.
日人治台初期，曾將台灣描述為「生蕃與瘧疾之島」，而唯有當社會秩序漸趨穩固，台人抗日從武裝抗爭轉為議會路線，加上制度性的旅遊機構逐漸建立後，觀光事業才漸趨成形。