The Ministry of Transportation and Communications is to continue to promote tourism to transit passengers at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport by offering a limited number of guided group tours to the Taoyuan Lantern Festival in February, it said yesterday.
Taoyuan airport last year received a record number of transit passengers at 6.37 million, constituting 12.5 percent of all passenger traffic, the ministry said.
The Legislative Yuan’s Transportation Committee invited the ministry to submit a report on how to improve travel experiences for transit passengers.
Photo: Liao Chen-hui, Taipei Times
According to the report, arrivals at Taoyuan airport before the COVID-19 pandemic were 48.7 million, with 5.65 million transit and layover passengers constituting about 10 percent of all passenger traffic.
However, after national lockdown restrictions were lifted last year, the number of transit and layover passengers increased by 13 percent from pre-pandemic levels to 12.5 percent of overall passenger volume, the ministry said.
The highest percentage of transit passengers last year was from North America at 39.8 percent, followed by Southeast Asia and South Asia at 36.9 percent and East Asia at 7.1 percent, showing the importance of Taoyuan airport as an international transport hub for passengers traveling between North America and Southeast Asia, it said.
The Tourism Administration has previously offered half-day tourism packages to transit passengers with a layover in Taiwan of between seven and 24 hours, and who also have visas or visa exemptions.
It offers four-hour guided group tours to Taipei, Taoyuan or New Taipei City, as well as Taoyuan Metro tickets and travel recommendations to independent tourists, the ministry said.
From May last year until last month, 14,692 international transfer passengers utilized the scheme, with 60 percent, or 8,807 passengers, choosing group tours and 40 percent, or 5,885 passengers, choosing independent travel, it said, adding that most came from the US, Canada, the Philippines, Germany and Australia.
Special day and night tours would also be offered for transit passengers to visit the Taoyuan Lantern Festival next year, which would be personalized according to their schedules.
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