The number of foreign visitors to the nation last month rose about 2 percent from a year earlier, reversing a decline recorded in the previous three months, the Tourism Bureau said on Friday.
The number of foreign visitors totaled 926,813 last month, up 1.81 percent from a year earlier, the bureau said.
That compares positively with a decline in the January-to-March period, when the number of foreign arrivals fell 9.99 percent annually.
The rebound in foreign arrivals was in part caused by a sharp increase in the number of visitors from Hong Kong, reaching 190,785, an increase of 110,716 people, or 72.32 percent, from a year earlier, the bureau said.
The increase was attributed to a holiday late last month, the bureau said, adding that the government has also introduced incentives to attract visitors from Hong Kong, such as offering one free airfare for every three tickets purchased to Taiwan.
The number of visitors from South Korea and Southeast Asia also rose, the bureau said.
The number of South Korean visitors totaled 84,249, an increase of more than 20,000, or 34.44 percent, from a year earlier, while the number of visitors from Vietnam soared 151.6 percent from last year to about 30,000, the bureau said.
The number of visitors from Thailand and the Philippines doubled, increasing by more than 10,000 visitors from a year earlier, the bureau said.
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government last year launched its “new southbound policy” that seeks closer ties with ASEAN members, as well as India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Australia and New Zealand, to reduce economic dependence on China.
The government has granted visa-free travel to people from Thailand and Myanmar, while giving conditional visa-free privileges to visitors from the Philippines.
The number of Japanese visitors last month fell 2.13 percent from a year earlier to 126,712, as a weaker yen dampened interest in overseas travel, the bureau said.
Although the number of Chinese visitors last month fell 42.97 percent from the previous year to 214,196, they remained the largest group of foreigners visiting Taiwan, the bureau said.
The Chinese military has built landing bridge ships designed to expand its amphibious options for a potential assault on Taiwan, but their combat effectiveness is limited due to their high vulnerability, a defense expert said in an analysis published on Monday. Shen Ming-shih (沈明室), a research fellow at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said that the deployment of such vessels as part of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy’s East Sea Fleet signals a strong focus on Taiwan. However, the ships are highly vulnerable to precision strikes, which means they could be destroyed before they achieve their intended
About 4.2 million tourist arrivals were recorded in the first half of this year, a 10 percent increase from the same period last year, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. The growth continues to be consistent, with the fourth quarter of this year expected to be the peak in Taiwan, the agency said, adding that it plans to promote Taiwan overseas via partnerships and major events. From January to June, 9.14 million international departures were recorded from Taiwan, an 11 percent increase from the same period last year, with 3.3 million headed for Japan, 1.52 million for China and 832,962 to South Korea,
SOVEREIGNTY: The rigs show that Beijing ‘rejects Taiwan’s jurisdiction’ by building in areas where Taipei demands permission to build or alter installations Chinese oil rigs have been sighted just 26 nautical miles (42km), from Taiwan’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) near Pratas Island (Dongsha Island, 東沙島), posing a threat to Taiwan’s sovereignty if left unchallenged, a brief published by the Jamestown Foundation on Tuesday said. Pratas Island, 444km from Kaohsiung, is northeast of the South China Sea and houses a Taiwanese garrison. The brief, titled “Rigging the Game: PRC Oil Structures Encroach on Taiwan’s Pratas Island” — referring to the People’s Republic of China — analyzed photographs and said that Beijing’s tools to pressure Taiwan now include oil rigs. “Oil rigs now constitute part of Beijing’s
The Taiwan Experience Education Program (TEEP) has funded short-term internships in Taiwan for more than 4,500 young people from more than 40 countries since 2015, with the goal of attracting and retaining international talent, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. Fifty-five colleges launched 514 projects this year, including in fields such as semiconductors, artificial intelligence, medicine and biotechnology, green energy, and sustainability, it said. The program provides research and practical internships in Taiwan for two to six months, and offers cultural exchange and networking opportunities, the ministry said. For example, National Formosa University’s Embedded System and Autopilot Laboratory developed two solar-powered drones in
RSS