Taiwan's foreign arrivals estimated to rise 3% in Q1

Taipei, April 2 (CNA) Taiwan will report a 3 percent year-on-year increase in the number of foreign visitors arriving in the country in the first quarter of this year, according to a preliminary estimate released by the country's Tourism Administration Monday.

In the estimate, the agency said Taiwan's foreign arrivals during the January-March period will top 2.1 million, up 3 percent year-on-year, with the number of visitors from South Korea, the Americas and Europe expected to surpass 2019 levels, before the COVID-19 pandemic.

Citing the numbers in January, the agency said, foreign visitors to Taiwan totaled 651,078, up 10.36 percent from a year earlier, with the January number equivalent to about 75 percent of the same period in 2019.

Since 2024, visitors from South Korea and Japan have accounted for about 30 percent of Taiwan's total foreign arrivals, while countries in Southeast Asian, including Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam as well as India have made up an additional 30 percent, the agency's data showed.

Travelers from Hong Kong, Macau, the Americas and Europe accounted for the remaining 40 percent of Taiwan's total foreign arrivals, the agency said.

The agency said more and more travelers from the Americas and Europe appear interested in Taiwan at a time when Taiwanese carriers continue to launch new routes from the country, while foreign airlines such as United Airlines also provided new flights to Taiwan to boost business.

In addition, the agency has set up the Taiwan Tourism Information Centers in Paris and Vancouver to attract more tourists to the country.

In January, the number of travelers from the Americas rose 27.33 percent from a year earlier and was also up 16.12 percent from the corresponding period in 2019, while the number of arrivals from Europe in January rose 23.09 percent from a year earlier and also grew 11.17 percent from the same period in 2019.

The agency said it has hired South Korean endorsers to promote Taiwan's ecotourism, cuisine and culture, along with new charter flights launched to attract more tourists. In January, visitors from South Korea rose 3.4 percent from a year earlier and returned to almost the same level as before COVID-19.

In Japan, the fall of the Japanese yen against the U.S. dollar has affected people's buying power but the agency plans to launch theme-focused tourist packages such as a railway tours in Taiwan to attract more tourists.

As for Southeast Asian countries and India, the agency said it has opened Taiwan Tourism Information Centers in Manila, Jakarta and Mumbai to provide better services to those interested in visiting Taiwan, with the number of arrivals from the Philippines increasing by 21 percent from pre-COVID-19 levels in January.

Taiwan's government has set a goal of attracting 10 million foreign visitors in 2025, up from about 7.86 million in 2024.

However, foreign arrivals lagged far behind the number of outbound departures. In 2024, about 16.85 million Taiwanese went overseas, the agency's data showed.