Foreign arrivals top 7 million, but still well off original target

Taipei, Dec. 6 (CNA) The number of foreign visitors to Taiwan in 2024 hit the 7 million milestone as of Dec. 3, according to official figures, but that remained well off pre-COVID levels and the government's official target for the year.

In a statement, the Tourism Administration said the 7 million foreign arrivals as of Dec. 3 were well above the 5.7 million arrivals recorded during the same period in 2023 and the 6.49 million arrivals for 2023 as a whole.

The number, however, was still well off the 10.72 million overseas visitors to Taiwan in the first 11 months of 2019, the last year before COVID-19 hit, and also short of previous government targets.

The Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC), which oversees the Tourism Administration, originally targeted 12 million foreign visitors for the year in January, but the goal was lowered to 10 million when China decided not to allow group tourists to visit Taiwan.

Transportation Minister Chen Shih-kai (陳世凱) later admitted in early November that the target would be hard to achieve, and said the more likely figure would be at least 7.5 million visitors, which the Tourism Administration said Friday would likely be attained.

The agency said the MOTC is still anticipating 10 million foreign arrivals in 2025.

Japanese nationals were the big source of foreign visitors this year as of Dec. 3, at 1.18 million, but that was still only about 60 percent of the 1.94 million Japanese who visited Taiwan in the same period in 2019.

Hong Kong arrivals were second at 1.16 million, about 75 percent of pre-COVID levels, and South Koreans were third at almost 900,000, or about 83 percent of pre-COVID levels.

One bright spot were the nearly 600,000 visitors from the United States, roughly 10 percent ahead of 2019 levels.

The tourism agency said arrivals from the U.S. were boosted by an increase in flights between destinations in Taiwan and the U.S., with Taiwanese carriers keen to launch new routes to American cities.

Recent efforts by the agency to strengthen demand for travel to Taiwan include setting up tourism promotion offices in Jakarta, Mumbai, Paris and Vancouver this year.

In addition, the agency will open the Taiwan Tourism Information Center (TTIC) in Manila, and two more TTICs will be established in Seattle and Sydney next year, the Tourism Administration said.