Taiwan Quick Take

■ Business
Ma Ying-jeou to visit US
Taipei Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) is scheduled to visit the US in August to entice investment from the high-tech sector, a Taipei City Government official said yesterday. Ma is planning to visit Massachusetts, Penn-sylvania and California, where many renowned high-tech industries are located, to plug Taipei's investment environment, the official said. Ma will focus on enticing companies in the wireless communications, venture capital and biotechnology sectors, and will encourage them to sign letters of intent and set up Asian operational hubs, or research and development centers in the city, the official said.

■ Tourism
Japanese staying away
The private sector and the government will join forces in an all-out effort to attract Japanese tourists, an industry source said yesterday. Affected by circumstances mitigating against tourist interest in both Taiwan and Japan, Taiwan had to do its best to upgrade its attractions and inject new incentives into its tourism campaigns aimed at courting the lucrative Japanese market, the source said. To achieve a government target of luring more than 1 million tourists from Japan this year, Taiwan had to offer more appeal in the face of a decline in arrivals, the source added. The number of Japanese tourists has dropped since the beginning of the year. Statistics compiled by the Tourism Bureau show that the number of arrivals fell by 38 percent in January and 32 percent in February compared to last year's figures. The figure for last month was not expected to improve because of tensions surrounding the March 20 presidential election, the source said.