Taiwan was one of the few countries in the Asia-Pacific region to experience growth in its tourism market last year, fueling hopes for an even better year this year, Tourism Bureau Deputy Director-General Hsieh Wei-chun (謝謂君) said yesterday.
Coming off a year in which Taiwan had nearly 4.4 million visitor arrivals, the bureau hopes to attract 4.8 million visitors, who will spend an estimated NT$240 billion (US$7.5 billion), this year, Hsieh told a news conference.
The Asia-Pacific region’s tourism market contracted 2 percent last year, with only Taiwan, South Korea, Malaysia and Sri Lanka bucking the trend, Hsieh said.
Visitor arrivals rose 14.3 percent last year to 4.395 million, he said, the highest growth rate in the region. This was mainly due to the 195.3 percent increase in visits by Chinese, Hsieh said.
Taiwan also saw a 16.19 percent rise in the number of visitors from Hong Kong and Macau, bureau statistics show.
However, the number of visitors from other major countries, including Japan, South Korea, the US, Singapore, New Zealand, Australia and European countries, declined.
The number of visitors from Japan, Taiwan’s most important source of tourists for years, saw a significant 7.92 percent drop, official tallies show.
Acknowledging that China is an emerging tourist source, Hsieh said his bureau would not just focus its promotional efforts on China.
“We will set our targets elsewhere in the global market. Japan remains our top target and we will diversify our strategy to attract as many tourists from around the world as possible,” Hsieh said.
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