Efforts to promote tourism are paying off, with the number of visitors last month hitting a new single-month high of 516,512, Tourism Bureau Director-General Janice Lai (賴瑟珍) said.
Lai said the number marked an increase of 30.7 percent year-on-year and beat the previous single-month record of 450,000 set in December.
“Most encouraging was the fact that in March there was an increase in the number of visitors from every major tourist source,” she said
The number of arrivals in every category also increased from the previous year.
For example, the number of tourists — 60 percent of total arrivals — rose 46 percent last month, she said.
Even more impressive was the 85 percent year-on-year increase in the number of visitors who came to Taiwan for study purposes, Lai said.
In other categories, the number of conference-goers rose 60 percent, visitors attending family reunions 30 percent and the number of business visitors 21 percent.
“All these figures indicate that not only the Tourism Bureau but also various government agencies have contributed to the drive to attract more visitors to Taiwan,” Lai said.
China emerged as Taiwan’s main source of tourism last month, with 149,617 of its citizens visiting Taiwan, up 71.97 percent year-on-year. Incentive trips offered by major China-based companies contributed significantly to the surge in the number of Chinese tourist arrivals, Lai said.
Altogether, Chinese travelers made 344,136 visits to Taiwan in the first quarter of this year — an increase of 98.64 percent year-on-year. Travel industry sources predict that the total number of Chinese visitors will break the 1 million mark this year.
Japan ranked second last month with 112,231, an increase of 6.5 percent year-on-year.
Hong Kong and Macau combined were the third largest source of visitors, with 61,024 arrivals, representing an annual increase of 6.9 percent.
The number of visits by US citizens last month was 37,696, a 26.86 percent year-on-year increase and which put the US in fourth place.
The bureau’s promotional blitz in Times Square and on New York subways, coupled with its invitations to US media professionals and travel executives to explore Taiwan’s tourist attractions, has clearly helped boost the market, Lai said.
The annual number of arrivals from Malaysia rose 106.96 percent to 26,698, putting Malaysia in fifth place.
Lai attributed the steep growth in visitor arrivals from that country to the increase in the number of direct flights between Taiwan and Malaysia and the increasing popularity of budget travel between the two countries.
The number of visitors from Europe, Singapore and South Korea increased last month by 17.37 percent, 14.75 percent and 28.67 percent respectively.
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