The number of foreign tourists visiting Taiwan is expected to increase to 2.1 million by the end of this quarter in a sign of the tourism sector’s recovery from COVID-19 pandemic doldrums, the Tourism Administration said yesterday.
Overall, tourism had a promising start in the first month of the year, reporting a 10.36 percent uptick in growth compared with the same month last year, a spokesperson said, citing immigration data.
This put the national target of attracting 10 million foreign visitors by the close of the year back in the government’s sights, they said.
Photo courtesy of the Tainan City Bureau of Tourism
Taiwan in January logged 650,000 international travelers, equivalent to 75 percent of the number in January 2019, the year before COVID-19’s global outbreak, they said.
Regions being targeted by the agency’s policies staged a stronger comeback as evidenced by the number of visitors hailing from North America and South Korea in January, which marked an increase to the figure from January 2019, they said.
Tourists from other priority markets in January reached 90 percent of their number before the pandemic, they said.
Since last year, Japanese and South Korean nationals amounted to 30 percent of the nation’s visitors and another 30 percent was accounted for by Southeast Asia and India, they said.
Tourists from the West — a growing market for Taiwanese tourism — as well as Hong Kong and Macau, accounted for the remaining 40 percent, the spokesperson said.
Taiwan’s success with Western tourists could be attributed to the agency’s policies including negotiating with United Airlines to open new flight routes, and opening tourism information centers in Paris, Vancouver and other major cities, the spokesperson said.
As a result, the number of US and Canadian nationals who visited Taiwan in January increased by 16.12 percent compared with the same month in 2019, they said.
The number of European tourists was up 11.17 percent compared with the same period in 2019 in a notable breakthrough for the tourism sector, they said.
The agency has invested heavily in promoting Taiwan’s image in South Korea, resulting in a near total recovery of tourism from that nation to pre-pandemic levels, they said.
The number of Japanese tourists visiting Taiwan last year was 64.78 percent of what it had been before COVID-19, they said.
The slump in Japanese consumer spending triggered by inflation was largely to blame for the tourism sector’s sluggish performance in that market, the spokesperson said.
The agency is promoting tourism in Taiwan via private sector partnerships and taking part in festivals in a bid to raise the nation’s profile, they said.
The short flight times between Taiwan and Japan, and comparatively low price point are potential assets for drawing in Japanese tourists, they said.
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