The government aims to attract 9.4 million visitors this year, the Tourism Administration said yesterday, citing last year’s success in diversifying tourist markets.
Taiwan last year drew about 8.57 million international arrivals, 72.3 percent of pre-COVID-19 levels. By contrast, the nation had about 18.94 million outbound tourists last year, surpassing the pre-COVID-19 level of 17.1 million.
The estimated tourism revenue deficit was about NT$700.9 billion (US$22.22 billion).
Photo: CNA
Taoyuan International Airport Corp expects more than 160,000 passengers to pass through the nation’s largest airport daily during the Lunar New Year holiday, which begins on Saturday.
As of Jan. 30, the nation’s average hotel occupancy rate was about 43.03 percent for the nine-day holiday.
Taiwan should have no trouble reaching 9 million international tourists this year, Tourism Administration Director-General Chen Yu-hsiu (陳玉秀) said.
“We think 9.3 million to 9.4 million would be a relatively achievable goal for us. It would take some serious efforts to reach 9.5 million,” Chen said.
The number of international tourists rose 11 to 12 percent last month, with a significant growth in the number of visitors from Europe, North America and Southeast Asia thanks to the agency’s initiative to diversify the inbound tourism market, she said.
“In the past, we relied heavily on tourists from a single country, but the situation has changed. We are seeing more tourists from Europe and North America, who tend to stay longer. We have also seen a rapid increase in the number of Filipino tourists, as well as more group travelers from Vietnam. We are also making progress in terms of tourists from India, New Zealand and Australia,” she said, adding that Taiwan’s inbound tourism market is undergoing a structural change.
The number of domestic and international travelers has risen steadily in the past two years, with domestic tourists taking 220 million trips last year, Minister of Transportation and Communication Chen Shih-kai (陳世凱) said.
“We also aim to strengthen and upgrade the industry’s fundamentals, so that domestic and international visitors can enjoy a higher-quality experience in Taiwan, while also creating greater value across the country’s tourism sector,” he said.
Plans to offer incentives to boost domestic tourism, including birthday-linked accommodation vouchers and subsidies for people traveling domestically on weekdays, have been put on hold, as the legislature has yet to review the general budget.
“We hope that lawmakers would quickly approve our budget plan, as we need to promote tourism to Taiwan. People are also looking forward to incentives for domestic travel,” he said.
Domestic travel incentives could be available from April to June if the budget is approved next month, the agency said, adding that it has completed the preparatory work to implement the policy.
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