Tourism officials and operators yesterday expressed optimism about inbound tourism from the Philippines thanks to a trial program starting next month that offers Philippine nationals visa-free entry to the nation for up to 14 days.
The Tourism Bureau said about 202,000 Philippine nationals visited Taiwan from January to last month, a 69 percent year-on-year increase.
The bureau expects even better figures in the fourth quarter, Tourism Bureau Chief Secretary Eric Lin (林坤源) said, adding that a promotional event at Taipei 101 would be targeting Southeast Asian tourists.
Philippines-based Golden World Travel & Tours president Jose Lim Letran said the number of tourists could grow quickly, especially as there are already well-established air links which could support growing demand.
“We send about 600 tourists to Taiwan each year and that number is very likely to grow as a result of the new policy,” said Letran, whose company is based in Quezon City.
Taipei 101 is boosting its efforts to attract tourists from Southeast Asia, said Chen Shih-ming (陳世明), president of Taipei Financial Center Co, which manages the nation’s tallest building.
There is to be a promotional campaigns targeting those tourists from next month to February, with lucky draws, discounts and souvenirs.
Visits from South Asian tourists to the Taipei 101 observatory grew by 68 percent to 259,000 during the first nine months of the year.
Thai and Vietnamese tourists accounted for 50 percent and 30 percent of those visitors respectively, observatory project manager Eddie Hsiang (項煒堅) said.
With the introduction of the visa-free program, the Philippines could soon challenge Thailand for the most visitors to Taiwan from Southeast Asia, Hsiang said.
“The observatory is a microcosm of tourism in Taiwan and we have seen the government’s initiative working,” Chen said, referring to the New Southbound Policy.
However, the region remains only the fourth-largest source of foreign visitors to the observatory after China, South Korea and Japan.
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