The legislature’s Transportation Committee yesterday voted to suspend NT$110 million (US$3.35 million) of the Tourism Administration’s funding, saying that officials failed to meet last year’s target of 10 million foreign tourists.
Lawmakers from across the political divide earlier advanced multiple motions to slash the agency’s budget. It can restore the funding if it submits a written report to address the committee’s concerns.
Taiwan last year welcomed 7.85 million foreign tourists, well short of the government’s original target of 12 million and its revised target of 10 million, lawmakers said, citing agency data.
Photo: Tsai Yun-jung, Taipei Times
As of September last year, about 7.2 million more Taiwanese visited foreign nations than foreigners visited Taiwan, they said.
In 2023, 6.49 million tourists visited Taiwan, with each spending an average of US$180.6 and staying 7.39 nights, totaling US$14.4 billion in tourism income, they said.
In 2019, 11.9 million tourists visited, with each spending an average of US$195.91 and 6.2 nights, totaling US$8.6 billion, they said.
That means the tourism industry has recovered to about 60 percent of its annual income from before the COVID-19 pandemic, less than the 70 to 80 percent recovery reported by other nations in the Asia-Pacific region, they said.
Taiwan’s global tourism ranking as measured by the ratio of tourism income to GDP slid to 65th last year, down from 56th in 2022, lawmakers said.
Last year, hotels reported occupancy rates of less than 50 percent, they said.
The number of illegal hotels and hostels in the year to September was 1,509, up 168 from June despite the agency’s vow to crack down on unlicensed operators, they said.
Agency officials would improve and expand a program to market local attractions, Tourism Administration Director-General Chou Yung-hui (周永暉) said.
The underperformance of tourism in Taiwan compared with other nations in the region might be a reflection of underfunding, Chou said.
Seven of the 17 NT$10 million (US$311,604) winning receipts from the November-December uniform invoice lottery remain unclaimed as of today, the Ministry of Finance said, urging winners to redeem their prizes by May 5. The reminder comes ahead of the release of the winning numbers for the January-February lottery tomorrow. Among the unclaimed receipts was one for a NT$173 phone bill in Keelung, while others were for a NT$5,913 purchase at Costco in Taipei's Neihu District (內湖), a NT$49 purchase at a FamilyMart in New Taipei City's Tamsui District (淡水), and a NT$500 purchase at a tea shop in New Taipei City's
Taiwanese officials were shown the first of 66 F-16V fighter jets purchased by Taiwan from the United States, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday, adding the aircraft has completed an initial flight test and is expected to be delivered later this year. A delegation led by Deputy Minister of National Defense Hsu Szu-chien (徐斯儉) visited Lockheed Martin’s F-16 C/D Block 70 (also known as F-16V) assembly line in South Carolina on March 16 to view the aircraft. The jet will undergo a final acceptance flight in the US before being delivered to Taiwan, the
Deliveries of delayed F-16V jets are expected to begin in September, Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) said today, after senior defense officials visited the US last week. The US in 2019 approved a US$8 billion sale of Lockheed Martin F-16 jets to Taiwan, a deal that would take the nation’s F-16 fleet to more than 200 jets, but the project has been hit by issues including software problems. Koo appeared today before a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, which is discussing different versions of the special defense budget this week. The committee is questioning officials today,
TALENT SCOUTING: The university is investing substantial funds in its future to bring in the kind of researchers that would keep the college internationally competitive National Taiwan University (NTU) plans to invest NT$2 billion (US$62.6 million) to launch two programs aimed at attracting and retaining top research talent, university president Chen Wen-chang (陳文章) said yesterday. The funding would support the “Palm Grove Scholars Project,” which targets academics aged 40 to 55. Up to 20 scholars would be selected, each receiving as much as NT$10 million annually, Chen said. The initiative is designed to attract leading researchers to Taiwan and strengthen NTU’s global competitiveness by fostering a more research-friendly environment and expanding international collaboration, he said. NTU is also introducing a “Hong Hu” chair grant, which would provide Palm
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