The number of Chinese tourists rebounded last month after a three-month year-on-year slump, registering a 17.6 percent rise compared with same period last year, the Tourism Bureau said yesterday.
Bureau statistics show that 90,599 Chinese tourists arrived last month, an average of 2,923 a day.
The bureau said the number of Chinese tourists had decreased consecutively from May to July, which was mainly attributed to the derailment of the Alishan Forest Railway train in April and the plasticizer scare in May.
The bureau said that 150,479 Chinese tourists arrived in May, a drop of 16.12 percent compared with the same period last year. The number then plummeted to 70,320 in June and rose to 90,483 in July, leading to a year-on-year drop of 27.94 percent and 2.7 percent respectively.
The decline was halted last month after the bureau stepped up its tourism campaigns in China, assuring Chinese media and tourists that it was safe to travel in Taiwan.
Asked if the growth momentum was likely to continue this month, the bureau said the peak travel season generally did not include September because it is the time when most students return to school.
The bureau’s report on the first week of this month showed an average of 1,500 Chinese tourist arrivals a day.
It said the number would gradually rise from the middle of this month and would peak on China’s National Day Golden Week, which begins around Oct. 1.
Meanwhile, the bureau has launched random inspections of Chinese tour groups to ensure Taiwanese travel agencies are offering quality tours.
The bureau said it would target the travel agencies that had received the most customer complaints.
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