The nation welcomed its 4 millionth overseas visitor of the year on Saturday, a Japanese tourist who received a debit card with NT$400,000 in credit, along with gifts from the Tourism Bureau.
Suzuyo Goto, 62, arrived in Taiwan with some friends on Saturday afternoon and was scheduled to embark on a six-day trip around the nation that includes visits to Sun Moon Lake and other scenic spots in Tainan, Taichung, Kaohsiung and Taipei.
The bureau said that approximately 3.94 million tourists had arrived from overseas by last month, registering 12 percent growth compared with the same period last year.
Tourism Bureau Deputy
Director-General David Hsieh (謝謂君) said the bureau estimated that the number of overseas tourists would hit the 4.2-million mark by the end of this year, adding that the bureau has set a goal of attracting 4.5 million overseas tourists to Taiwan next year.
Statistics from the bureau showed that as of October, Japan was ranked first for the number of tourists that had visited Taiwan this year. China was ranked second, followed by Hong Kong and Macau, the US and South Korea.
Hsieh said between January and October, the number of Japanese tourists fell by about 8 percent compared with the same period last year. Many other Southeastern Asian nations had also seen a decrease in the number of Japanese tourists visiting. He said the number of Japanese tourists visiting Singapore had fallen by about 14 percent and Thailand had seen a 22.31 percent decrease in the number of Japanese tourists.
In contrast, the number of Chinese tourists visiting Taiwan grew by 195.3 percent when compared with the same period last year.
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