The number of Chinese tourists visiting Taiwan rose by 0.59 percent to 249,999 last month, marking the first monthly increase since President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) took office in May last year.
Statistics from the Tourism Bureau showed that the number of Chinese tourists had dropped from a total of 4.18 million in 2015 to 2.66 million last year.
The decline in Chinese tourists had shown double-digit percentage differences since May last year, dropping 12.21 percent in May, 32.41 percent in August, 44.30 percent in October and 32.64 percent in December compared with the same months in 2015.
The only decrease between January and April last year occurred in February, when the number of Chinese tourists dropped by 0.23 percent, the statistics showed.
Data from the bureau showed that the decline continued between January and July this year, with decreases of 30.22 percent in January, 50.09 percent in February, 44.60 percent in March, 42.97 percent in April, 38.31 percent in May, 30.25 percent in June and 20.86 percent in July.
Commenting on the first positive, albeit minor, increase, the bureau attributed the growth to the arrival of independent Chinese tourists as well as those arriving via tour groups (3.39 percent and 6.49 percent respectively).
Apart from summer vacation, events like the Taipei Summer Universiade have also encouraged some Chinese to visit, the bureau said.
The bureau is optimistic about the gradual rebound in Chinese visitors, as positive growth was also reported in the first week of this month, it added.
A freeway bus fire in July last year, which killed all 26 people on board, would have dissuaded many Chinese from visiting Taiwan, which would have in turn affected the number of visitors entering the nation in the months that followed, Quality Travel Development Association chairman Ringo Lee (李奇嶽) said.
Consequently, it is meaningless to compare the number of Chinese travelers last month with those in August last year, Lee said, adding that the industry expects a continuing decline in Chinese tourists.
Meanwhile, the number of Japanese and South Korean tourists dropped by 8 percent and 3 percent respectively last month, the data showed.
The decrease was due to a lack of flights, as many Taiwanese like to travel to Japan or South Korea during the summer, the bureau said.
The bureau said it has formed a 200-strong delegation with the Taiwan Visitors Association and other organizations to attend the Tourism Expo Japan in Tokyo, which opens today, adding that its goal of having 2 million Japanese tourists to visit Taiwan this year remains unchanged.
Significant growth in tourists also occurred for some of the natonis targeted in the government’s New Southbound policy last month.
The number of Vietnamese tourists rose by 85 percent to 31,684, and Philippine travelers increased by 50 percent to 19,711.
Double-digit growth was also seen in the number of tourists from Malaysia (27.52 percent), Singapore (17.41 percent) and Thailand (13.84 percent).
Overall, the nation welcomed 909,381 international travelers last month, rising 5.3 percent from a year earlier.
A Keelung high school on Saturday night apologized for using a picture containing a Chinese flag on the cover of the senior yearbook, adding that it has recalled the books and pledged to provide students new ones before graduation on Thursday. Of 309 Affiliated Keelung Maritime Senior High School of National Taiwan Ocean University graduates, 248 had purchased the yearbook. Some students said that the printer committed an outrageous error in including the picture, while others said that nobody would notice such a small flag on the cover. Other students said that they cared more about the photographs of classmates and what was
GOING INTERNATIONAL: Rakuten Girls squad leader Ula Shen said she was surprised that baseball fans outside of Taiwan not only knew of them, but also knew their names Major League Baseball’s (MLB) Oakland Athletics on Saturday hosted its first Taiwanese Heritage Day event at the Oakland Coliseum with a performance by Taiwanese cheerleading squad the Rakuten Girls and a video message from Vice President William Lai (賴清德). The Rakuten Girls, who are the cheerleaders for the CPBL’s Rakuten Monkeys, performed in front of a crowd of more than 2,000 people, followed by a prerecorded address by Lai about Taiwan’s baseball culture and democratic spirit. Taiwanese pitcher Sha Tzu-chen (沙子宸), who was signed by the Athletics earlier this year, was also present. Mizuki Lin (林襄), considered a “baseball cheerleading goddess” by Taiwanese
WAY OF THE RUKAI: ‘Values deemed worthy often exist amid discomfort, so when people go against the flow, nature becomes entwined with our lives,’ a student said “Run, don’t walk” after your dreams, Nvidia cofounder and chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) told National Taiwan University (NTU) graduates yesterday, as several major universities held in-person graduation ceremonies for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic. “What will you create? Whatever it is, run after it. Run, don’t walk. Remember, either you’re running for food, or you are running from becoming food. Oftentimes, you can’t tell which. Either way, run,” he said. Huang was one of several tech executives addressing graduating students at Taiwanese universities. National Chengchi University held two ceremonies, with alumnus Patrick Pan (潘先國), who is head of Taiwan
A 14-legged giant isopod is the highlight of a new dish at a ramen restaurant in Taipei and it has people lining up — both for pictures and for a bite from this bowl of noodles. Since “The Ramen Boy” launched the limited-edition noodle bowl on Monday last week, declaring in a social media post that it had “finally got this dream ingredient,” more than 100 people have joined a waiting list to dine at the restaurant. “It is so attractive because of its appearance — it looks very cute,” said the 37-year-old owner of the restaurant, who wanted to be
RSS