The Tourism Bureau yesterday announced the arrival of the 5 millionth international tourist this year, setting a new record for the number of foreign visitors to Taiwan.
Japanese tourist Mizuho Kimura, 31, arrived at Terminal 2 of Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport at 7:40pm on China Airlines flight CI101 from Tokyo. She is scheduled to be in Taiwan for four days.
Upon her arrival, Tourism Bureau Deputy Director-General Wayne Liu (劉喜臨) gave her flowers. As the 5 millionth foreign tourist to visit Taiwan this year, Kimura will also receive NT$500,000, which will be added to her credit card, as well as more than 500 Taiwanese-style souvenirs.
The number of international arrivals in Taiwan last year was 4.4 million. For this year, the bureau had set a goal of 4.8 million foreign visitors, which it met ahead of schedule.
As it could not know ahead of time at which airport the 5 millionth visitor would arrive, the Tourism Bureau had assigned representatives to stand by at the nation’s international airports in Taipei, Taoyuan, Taichung and Kaohsiung.
Meanwhile, the bureau had also arranged for dragon and lion dance performances to be ready to greet the lucky visitor.
Liu said last week that the number of foreign arrivals in Taiwan could surpass 5.3 million this year, adding that the number could hit 6 million next year.
Statistics from the Tourism Bureau showed that about 4.5 million people visited Taiwan between January and last month, a 27 percent increase from the same period last year.
The top three sources of tourists were Malaysia, China and South Korea.
According to the Tourism Bureau, the nation first hit the 1 million mark for foreign visitors in 1976. The 2 million, 3 million and 4 million marks, meanwhile, were met in 1989, 2005 and last year respectively.
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