The Tourism Administration is intensifying marketing efforts in the US following a significant increase in tourists from the country last year, the Tourism Administration said yesterday.
Taiwan attracted 529,532 US visitors last year, making it the fourth-largest source of tourists, and nearly 52 percent of them came for tourism-related purposes, administration data showed.
The top five sources of tourists also included Hong Kong with 1.104 million visitors, Japan with 928,235 visitors, South Korea with 744,727 and Singapore with 463,893, the data showed.
Photo copied by Wang Kuan-jen, Taipei Times
It is likely that the number of US visitors could grow further in the second half of this year, the administration said.
China Airlines, Starlux Airlines and Delta Airlines are planning to launch or resume direct flights between Taipei and Seattle, it said.
Delta and Starlux have announced that they aim to launch the service on June 7 and Aug. 16 respectively, while China Airlines said it would relaunch the service that it suspended in 2008 on July 14.
The number of flights between Taiwan and North America would reach about 160 per week with the addition of the new services offered by the three long-haul carriers, the administration said.
The expansion of the regional flight network would make Taiwan a transit hub and travel destination for North American travelers, it said.
As a majority of the US visitors are more likely to arrive from the west coast, the administration formed a delegation consisting of officials from Taipei’s Department of Information and Tourism, travel agents and airline representatives and hosted three tourism information sessions in Seattle, Los Angeles and San Francisco, it said.
The sessions were to be held on Monday, today and Friday.
Participants would also have an opportunity to experience paper carving, silk fan painting and tea culture, among other things, the administration said.
Miss Asia USA Tiffany Chang (張芳瑜), Miss Taiwanese American Mimi Song (宋依珊) and travel influencer Nae Lynette were invited to introduce Taiwan to those attending the information sessions, it said.
In other news, people traveling through Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport during the Dragon Boat Festival long weekend are to have access to fourth-generation automated immigration clearance gates, also known as e-Gates, at terminals one and two, the Border Affairs Corps said yesterday.
The gates have been in use since 2011 to inspect travelers’ passports at airports and seaports, it said.
Since Thursday last week, 19 fourth-generation e-Gates have been installed at the airport’s two terminals, while the second batch of 24 e-Gates would be installed from Monday next week to Aug. 1, the corps said.
All old e-Gates in the airport in Taoyuan would be replaced by the end of this year, it said, adding that installing the new e-Gates would not disrupt passport inspections.
The new e-Gates combine in-gate registration and passport inspections, and support several languages, the corps said.
However, the new system can only inspect electronic passports with biometric information, the corps said.
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