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.
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