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Japan remains far and away the top source of tourists

Japan retained its position as Taiwan's No. 1 source of foreign visitors in the first five months of this year, with nearly 470,000 Japanese coming to the country during the period, according to statistics released this week by the Ministry of Transportation and Communications.

During the January-May period, foreign travelers paid a total of 1.43 million visits to Taiwan, up 5.9 percent over the year-earlier level, ministry figures show.

Japanese visitors made more than 469,000 visits to Taiwan, leading tourists from all other countries.

Visitors from Hong Kong and Macau were next on the list, making more than 170,800 visits to Taiwan during the same period. That was followed by more than 150,000 visits by US citizens, some 82,000 visits by South Korean travelers and 68,000 visits by Singaporeans.

Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, Indonesia and Canada ranked sixth to 10th in terms of traveler numbers visiting Taiwan in the first five months of this year, ranging from 46,000 visits to around 22,000, according to the ministry's tallies.

Compared with the previous year's level, the number of tourists from Indonesia posted the largest growth at 80.5 percent.

Ministry officials attributed the substantial rise to Taiwan's re-opening to Indonesian workers in 2003.

At the same time, the numbers of visitors from the US, Canada and the Philippines registered declines year-on-year, the ministry said.

According to the ministry's tallies, Taiwan ranked 14th among the 44 Asia-Pacific countries and areas in terms of tourist arrivals last year.
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