The government would closely monitor if the New Taiwan dollar’s appreciation against the US dollar would affect international tourists’ interest in visiting Taiwan, Minister of Transportation and Communications Chen Shih-kai (陳世凱) said yesterday.
A stronger NT dollar would help lower travel expenses, potentially motivating more Taiwanese to travel overseas, Chen said in response to a question from Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Hsu Fu-kuei (徐富癸) at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee.
However, it could dampen interest among foreign travelers to visit Taiwan, as they would be paying higher travel costs, Chen said.
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
“The repercussions that the NT dollar’s rise would have on the inbound tourism market has yet to become obvious at this stage. However, it is an issue worth paying attention to in the long run,” Chen said, adding that the Tourism Administration is closely monitoring the number of inbound passengers and other data.
The ministry would offer detailed plans to subsidize or promote domestic travel if local tourism operators were affected by the NT dollar’s rise, Chen said, adding that it would work with other agencies to assist tourism operators if necessary.
The ministry also said that the tourism market can be influenced by changes in the international market.
It would communicate with tourism operators and activate response mechanisms following cautious assessments of the situation, it said.
“We are to ensure continual growth of the domestic tourism market,” the ministry said.
EVA Airways Corp president Clay Sun (孫嘉明) told a news conference for the EVA Air Marathon in Taipei that the NT dollar’s appreciation means that Taiwanese now have greater purchasing power.
The high volume of currency exchange in the past few days, particularly for the Japanese yen and US dollar, shows that many people would like to use the exchanged currency for overseas travel, he said.
“We are operating a global aviation network. Aside from outbound passengers, we also look at inbound and transit passengers. While there remains a strong demand for overseas travel, we also see a normal influx of people from Europe and North America traveling to Taiwan for business and to visit relatives,” Sun said.
The progress in negotiations over tariffs between Taiwan and the US could affect the number of passengers arriving from North America, he added.
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