The value of credit card transactions by Taiwanese consumers when traveling abroad increased 31.3 percent year-on-year to NT$231.4 billion (US$7.07 billion) last year, a record high, the National Credit Card Center said yesterday.
Taiwanese credit card transactions in Japan last year were far ahead of other countries and regions, accounting for 41.57 percent of the top 10 destinations, followed by South Korea with 13.73 percent and the US with 10.07 percent, the center said in a report.
From fourth to 10th were France, the UK, Italy, Hong Kong, Macau, China and Thailand, the report said.
Photo: Lee Chin-hui, Taipei Times
The number of Taiwanese traveling abroad has increased significantly during the post-COVID-19 pandemic era, which increases demand for cross-border payment services and boosts credit card transactions by Taiwanese abroad.
The center’s data showed transactions increased by about 2.1 times to NT$53 billion in 2022 from NT$17.07 billion in 2021, grew 2.32 times to NT$176.3 billion in 2023, and continued growth to reach the highest level last year.
The report also found that countries and regions in Asia accounted for 71.3 percent of total credit card transactions by Taiwanese consumers last year.
The center attributed the Asia-focused consumption to the effect of the strong US dollar, which incentivized people to travel to countries such as Japan and South Korea for sightseeing and shopping, as they proved better value for money.
A closer study of consumption in countries or regions revealed that Taiwanese tourists spent more in Japan’s department stores, retail outlets and clothing shops than any other destination — accounting for 53.55 percent of their total consumption there — driven by the depreciation of the yen and the convenience of tax refunds, the report said.
Meanwhile, Taiwanese tourists spent more on medical care, skincare and cosmetic services in South Korea than anywhere else, as was on their spending on the gaming and entertainment industry in Macau, with average payment per transaction of NT$17,759 last year, the highest among all consumption in the top 10 destinations, it said.
Overall, Taiwan’s total credit card transactions last year reached a record NT$4.69 trillion from NT$4.19 trillion the previous year, an 11.9 percent increase. Among them, cross-border transactions grew 30.9 percent year-on-year to NT$602.34 billion, the report said.
When an apartment comes up for rent in Germany’s big cities, hundreds of prospective tenants often queue down the street to view it, but the acute shortage of affordable housing is getting scant attention ahead of today’s snap general election. “Housing is one of the main problems for people, but nobody talks about it, nobody takes it seriously,” said Andreas Ibel, president of Build Europe, an association representing housing developers. Migration and the sluggish economy top the list of voters’ concerns, but analysts say housing policy fails to break through as returns on investment take time to register, making the
‘SILVER LINING’: Although the news caused TSMC to fall on the local market, an analyst said that as tariffs are not set to go into effect until April, there is still time for negotiations US President Donald Trump on Tuesday said that he would likely impose tariffs on semiconductor, automobile and pharmaceutical imports of about 25 percent, with an announcement coming as soon as April 2 in a move that would represent a dramatic widening of the US leader’s trade war. “I probably will tell you that on April 2, but it’ll be in the neighborhood of 25 percent,” Trump told reporters at his Mar-a-Lago club when asked about his plan for auto tariffs. Asked about similar levies on pharmaceutical drugs and semiconductors, the president said that “it’ll be 25 percent and higher, and it’ll
CHIP BOOM: Revenue for the semiconductor industry is set to reach US$1 trillion by 2032, opening up opportunities for the chip pacakging and testing company, it said ASE Technology Holding Co (日月光投控), the world’s largest provider of outsourced semiconductor assembly and test (OSAT) services, yesterday launched a new advanced manufacturing facility in Penang, Malaysia, aiming to meet growing demand for emerging technologies such as generative artificial intelligence (AI) applications. The US$300 million facility is a critical step in expanding ASE’s global footprint, offering an alternative for customers from the US, Europe, Japan, South Korea and China to assemble and test chips outside of Taiwan amid efforts to diversify supply chains. The plant, the company’s fifth in Malaysia, is part of a strategic expansion plan that would more than triple
Taiwanese artificial intelligence (AI) server makers are expected to make major investments in Texas in May after US President Donald Trump’s first 100 days in office and amid his rising tariff threats, Taiwan Electrical and Electronic Manufacturers’ Association (TEEMA, 台灣電子電機公會) chairman Richard Lee (李詩欽) said yesterday. The association led a delegation of seven AI server manufacturers to Washington, as well as the US states of California, Texas and New Mexico, to discuss land and tax issues, as Taiwanese firms speed up their production plans in the US with many of them seeing Texas as their top option for investment, Lee said. The
RSS