The government has room to improve in terms of attracting international visitors to Taiwan, as the number of inbound travelers has so far only returned to 30 percent of the level recorded in 2019, tourism experts told a public hearing yesterday.
The legislature’s Transportation Committee organized the hearing to discuss actions that could be taken by the government and private sector to boost the tourism industry in the post-COVID-19 era.
Huang Cheng-tsung (黃正聰), an associate professor at Providence University’s Department of Tourism, said that the number of inbound and outbound passengers together has over the past few months reached 40 to 50 percent of the level seen before the COVID-19 pandemic, peaking during the Lunar New Year holiday and 228 Memorial Day long weekend.
Photo courtesy of the Tourism Bureau
Taiwan’s recovery rate is slower than Australia, New Zealand, and European and North American countries, he said.
“This shows that Taiwan is having a slower recovery in international travel,” Huang said.
However, the number of inbound travelers has only returned to 30 percent of the 2019 level, while the number of outbound travelers rebounded to 50 to 60 percent of the 2019 level, he said.
“The large tourism deficit shows there is still a lot of room for improvement in attracting travelers from other countries,” Huang said.
Lee Ye-horng (李貽鴻), an adjunct associate professor at Ming Chuan University’s Department of Leisure and Recreation Management, said a majority of international visitors now come from Southeast Asian countries.
On average, they have less spending power than people from other countries and stay mainly in Taipei, Lee said.
“In addition to those who arrive for tourism purposes, others who come to study, shop, visit relatives, access healthcare services and undergo training, as well as those who are here for business and religious purposes, should all be considered tourists,” Lee said. “As such, all administrative agencies should jointly participate in marketing efforts to promote tours to Taiwan.”
Minister of Transportation and Communications Wang Kwo-tsai (王國材) said that the number of inbound visitors on Saturday last week surpassed 1 million, exceeding the target of 820,000 that the Tourism Bureau set for the first quarter.
“The bureau has also offered incentives to attract individual and group travelers from overseas,” Wang said, adding that whether Chinese tourists are allowed to visit Taiwan hinges on Beijing’s regulations.
Separately, the Tourism Bureau and Taiwan International Ports Corp (TIPC) participated together in Seatrade Cruise Global, the largest cruise industry gathering in the world. It started on Monday in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
“Since Taiwan eased its COVID-19 restrictions in October last year, 310 cruise ships are forecast to berth in Taiwan this year, nearly half of the number forecast in 2019,” said Wang Jing-rong (王錦榮), general manager of TIPC’s Kaohsiung branch.
“This shows that international cruise companies still have confidence in Taiwan’s cruise tour market,” he said. “To attract more cruise ships to berth in Taiwan, we are offering cruise companies the most favorable terms. Hopefully, the cruise ship market will prosper as before.”
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