The spending power of Chinese tourists in Taiwan per trip has exceeded that of visitors from Hong Kong, the Visa Greater China Travel Preference Survey said yesterday.
The survey showed that Chinese tourists, on average, spent 11,000 yuan (US$1,609) in Taiwan per trip per head, nearly twice that of Hong Kong tourists at HK$6,600 (US$851). However, it did not specify the number of days spent on each trip.
The survey, which interviewed 654 people from China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, found that Taiwan has become the top travel destination for Chinese and Hong Kong tourists. About 90 percent of respondents in China and 87 percent of respondents from Hong Kong said that they had a good impression of their visit to Taiwan.
Marco Ma (麻少華), country manager of Visa International, said Chinese tourists could soon catch up to become the nation’s biggest source of inbound tourists.
Despite global financial woes, the number of Chinese visitors grew 260 percent year-on-year to 472,425 in the first half of this year, while Hong Kong tourists grew 19 percent year-on-year to 358,931 trips, Ma said, citing Tourism Bureau statistics.
Japanese tourists still topped the list, although the number of visitors declined 12 percent year-on-year to 484,954 trips in the first half, bureau figures showed.
The survey also found that the top three spots for Chinese tourists were Sun Moon Lake, Alishan and the outlying islands, while Hong Kong visitors favored Kenting.
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