The annual number of Taiwanese visitors to the US has increased by more than 100,000 since the nation’s admission to the US’ Visa Waiver Program in 2012, a Ministry of Foreign Affairs official said yesterday.
Before Taiwan was granted visa-free privileges on Nov. 1, 2012, on average fewer than 300,000 Taiwanese traveled to the US per year, Department of North American Affairs Director-General Christine Hsueh (薛美瑜) said at a news conference in Taipei yesterday.
“The number rose dramatically to 384,581 in 2013 and then surged to 413,048 last year. There were a record-high 91,168 Taiwanese visitors to the US in the first quarter of this year,” Hsueh said, adding that the number is expected to continue to rise.
Seven extra direct flight routes between Taiwan and the US have been launched since the change to visa waiver status, while the total number of flights between the two nations has climbed by nearly 30 percent, from 6,264 flights in 2012 to 7,989 flights last year, Hsueh said.
Hsueh said the visa-free privilege has saved Taiwanese approximately NT$1.2 billion (US$36.78 million) in visa application fees over the past two years, with the number of “B1/B2” visitor’s visas issued by the US dropping drastically from 145,304 in 2011 to 29,210 last year, Hsueh said.
“Inclusion in the program has boosted the amount Taiwanese visitors spend in the US,” Hsueh said. “Statistics show that Taiwanese business travelers on average spend US$1,359 in the US and that in total Taiwanese visitors spent more than US$1.07 billion in the US in first two years of Taiwan’s inclusion in the program.”
Taiwan is the 37th nation worldwide and the seventh in Asia to join the program, Hsueh said.
“That we are the only nation among the current 38 members of the program that does not have diplomatic ties with the US demonstrates the efficacy of the government’s viable diplomacy policy,” she said.
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