Government hoping to lure 3.2 million tourists

The government has set the target of attracting at least 3.2 million tourists from abroad this year under the "doubling tourist arrivals by 2008" goal announced in 2002, Premier Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) said yesterday.

Fielding questions at the Legislative Yuan, Hsieh said that Taiwan saw 2.9 million tourist arrivals from abroad last year, and that the figure is expected to grow by 300,000 this year to reach 3.2 million.

He noted that foreign tourist arrivals are also expected to grow by double-digit percentages annually in the years leading up to 2008.

Should this be realized as planned, the goal of doubling tourist arrivals to 5 million will be achieved by 2008, he added.

Minister of Transportation and Communications Lin Ling-san (林陵三) said that he has not been very satisfied with what Taiwan has done in running advertisements abroad to attract tourists to the country.

Despite the benefits of tourism, Minister of Agriculture Lee Chin-lung (李金龍) said the public should beware of over-development to prevent harm to the environment.