In the News

Taiwan's mainland visitor numbers soar

• Publication Date：11/26/2009
• Source： China Times

Chinese mainland visitors numbered over 760,000 in the first ten months of the year, ranking them second among tourists to Taiwan, according to the Ministry of Transportation and Communications Nov. 25.

This ranking is up two notches from last year and represents an increase of 497.6 percent.

More than 820,000 Japanese tourists visited Taiwan during the same period, making Japan the number one source of Taiwan’s foreign visitors, even though the number constitutes an 8 percent drop compared to last year. Tourists from Macau and Hong Kong, totaling 597,000, were number three. The United States garnered fourth with 298,000 visitors, followed by Korea with 139,000.

David Hsieh, deputy director-general of the Tourism Bureau, said a total of 3,535,000 visitors arrived in Taiwan from January to October 2009, up 11.65 % year-on-year. It is expected that the bureau’s target of 4.1 million sightseers will be reached by the end of the year. Hsieh predicted the year-end number could go up to 4.2 million, adding that the goal for 2010 is 4.5 million foreign visitors.

Hsieh noted the number of mainland tourists started to rise in November. In the week of Nov. 25 to Dec. 2, for instance, a projected daily average of 2,414 mainland tourists will be on tour in Taiwan, while only 1,440 mainlanders arrived on the island daily in October.

An industry insider said mainland tourist packages now cost US$35 to US$38 daily per person, better than the US$30 charge in October. However, it is still far less than the US$60 minimum fee stipulated by the bureau, he pointed out. (LC-THN)