Taiwan, in efforts to boost inbound tourism, plans to give each foreign visitor a basket of fruit upon arrival, the Tourism Bureau said yesterday.
"Starting in September, we will give each Hong Kong visitor landing at the Kaohsiung airport a box of fruits," Chu Hong-hai, a bureau official, said.
The baskets will contain seasonal fruits such as bananas, mangos, lychee, pears, apples, and guava.
"We may give away other gifts in the future because some countries bar foreign fruits from entry," he said. "This is only an experiment. If reaction is good, we will expand it to visitors from all countries."
Taiwan's inbound tourism has been rising since the sharp fall caused by the Sept. 21, 1999 earthquake. The quake, measuring 7.3 on the Richter scale, killed some 2,400 people and destroyed tourist facilities in central Taiwan.
Among favorite tourist areas hit hardest was Sun Moon Lake in the country's mountainous interior, which saw many building damaged or detroyed.
But as memories of the killer earthquake slowly fade, foreign tourists are returning with Japan and Hong Kong leading the number of tourists to Taiwan.
In the first seven months of this year, 1.6 million foreigners visited Taiwan, up 9.16 percent year-on-year.
Among the total, there were 600,000 Japanese, up 26 percent, and 232,000 Hong Kong residents, up 20 percent year-on-year.
Since spring of this year the government has been working on measures to promote the local tourism industry, including simplification of visa and entry application procedures to attract more foreign tourists.
President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and Premier Chang Chun-hsiung (張俊雄) have prioritized plans to promote the domestic tourism industry via government investment of NT$50 billion (US$1.51 billion) over the next four years and plans to solicit private investment of NT$200 billion (US$6.07 billion).
The free baskets for tourists from Hong Kong will last through December, officials said.
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