Taiwan still aims to reach its target of 10 million international visitors this year despite only 2 million arriving in the first quarter and 3.4 million as of Monday last week, Tourism Administration data showed.
In the first three months of this year, Taiwan recorded 2.05 million international arrivals, with Japan, Hong Kong and Macau, and South Korea the top three sources of inbound visitors.
In the three years prior to the COVID-19 pandemic (2017-2019), first-quarter arrivals accounted for about 24 percent of a given year’s visitors, meaning Taiwan has some catching up to do to reach its 10 million target.
Photo: Taipei Times
In a radio interview on Friday, Minister of Transportation and Communications Li Meng-yen (李孟諺) said the nation still had opportunities to reach its visitor goal, but acknowledged that it would be challenging.
As of Monday last week, 3.4 million international visitors had visited Taiwan, Li said, citing Tourism Administration data.
He said he hoped the fourth quarter, the usual peak season for inbound visitors, would be strong.
Last year, 6.49 million foreigners visited Taiwam.
Taiwan originally set a target of 12 million arrivals for this year, which included a significant number of visitors from China, but that target was adjusted as Beijing continues to restrict travel to Taiwan, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said.
When China’s borders reopened last year, 1.76 million Taiwanese visited as independent visitors (not with tour groups), but only 220,000 Chinese traveled to Taiwan for meetings or for medical purposes due to Beijing’s travel restrictions, Li said.
Tourism Administration data showed that 98,674 Chinese nationals visited Taiwan in the first quarter, far fewer than the 348,913 arrivals from Japan, 320,988 from Hong Kong and Macau, and 316,958 from South Korea.
The visitors from the top three sources more than doubled compared with the first quarter of last year, the data showed.
About 616,000 travelers from Southeast Asia arrived in the first quarter, up 30 percent from a year earlier.
Before the pandemic, the number of inbound travelers to Taiwan peaked at 11.86 million in 2019.
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