The government’s newest travel subsidy could help boost tourism revenue, but more is needed to help reverse the nation’s travel deficit, the Taiwan Tourist Hotel Association said yesterday.
The government’s plan to provide a NT$500 domestic travel subsidy from next month to June could help boost tourism revenue by 8 percent, association chairman Lai Cheng-i (賴正鎰) told a media briefing.
The spring travel subsidy, intended to bolster consumer spending this year, as exports might soften amid a global slowdown, is helpful, but it might not be as effective as the winter travel subsidy, he said.
The winter subsidy of NT$1,000 per person helped raise tourism revenue by 17 percent, he said.
Domestic travel generated 70 percent of overall tourism revenue last year, said Lai, who owns luxury resort chain Lalu (涵碧樓), which has hotels in Nantou County and China.
Subsidies are important for budget hotels that have taken a hit from a sharp decline in the number of Chinese tourists in the past few years, he said.
Retired teachers and civil servants are the biggest beneficiaries of travel subsidies, as they have reduced their travel spending to cope with pension reforms, he added.
Lai, who also owns Taichung-based Shining Building Business Co (鄉林建設), said that the government should do more to shore up the leisure and hospitality industry and reverse sustained travel deficits.
The number of inbound travelers last year rose 3.05 percent annually to 11.06 million, while the number of outbound travelers gained 6.32 percent to 16.64 million, he said, citing government data.
China, Southeast Asia and Japan have been the most popular destinations for Taiwanese travelers, Lai said.
The government should improve infrastructure in the nation’s mountainous areas to make them more accessible, as Taiwan is blessed with vistas comparable to Japan’s Hokkaido, he said.
Taiwanese last year made 4.82 million visits to Japan, compared with 1.97 million visits by Japanese to Taiwan, Lai said, adding that there is ample room for improvement by Taiwan.
Taiwan can also learn from Singapore, which last year reported tourism revenue of NT$616.7 billion (US$19.98 billion), much higher than Taiwan’s NT$369.4 billion for the same period, he said.
The city-state has successfully attracted foreign tourists in the past years with an emphasis on its technology and urban appeal, he added.
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