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Number of Japanese visitors nudges up

The Tourism Bureau said yesterday that the number of overseas visitors reached approximately 3.71 million last year, up 5.58 percent compared with 2006.

Nonetheless, the number still fell short of the bureau's target of 3.75 million overseas tourists.

The bureau said the majority of visitors were from Japan, accounting for about 31 percent of the total. It was followed by those from Hong Kong-Macau and from the US, which represented 13.2 percent and 10.7 percent, respectively.

Compared with 2006, the growth of Japanese tourists was merely 0.42 percent.

Statistics provided by the bureau also showed that the largest growth in a single month occurred last month, when inbound visitors increased 12.34 percent compared to the same period in 2006.

Meanwhile, those visiting the nation last month for tourism purposes accounted for more than half of all the overseas visitors, the bureau said.

In a statement issued yesterday, the bureau cited a weak economy, a weak yen and fuel surcharge increases as factors preventing Japanese tourists from going overseas.

However, while the number of Japanese visitors to Taiwan increased slightly, Japanese visits to other Asian countries had decreased. For example, Thailand lost 1.6 percent of its Japanese tourists from January to October last year compared with the same period in 2006. Other countries, such as South Korea and Singapore, also saw declines last year.

The statement also credited the slight increase in Japanese tourists to successful marketing strategies by the bureau, including recruiting the popular boy band F4 for a television series to be broadcast in Japan.

Sponsored by the Tourism Bureau, the television series, titled Wish to See You Again (在這裡等妳), debuted in Japan last month and features romantic stories about three young couples and uses several tourist attractions as settings.

Last year, the bureau adjusted this year's goal from 5 million overseas tourists to 4 million.
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