Charter flights to connect Taitung County and Hanoi

Taipei, July 13 (CNA) A foreign airline will serve Taitung County for the first time in history next month when the first of a series of round-trip charter flights connecting southeastern Taiwan and Hanoi, Vietnam, arrives in Taitung on Aug. 30, the county said Saturday.

The charter flights, which have been arranged by the county government and a local travel agency and will be flown by budget carrier VietJet Air, will bring 230 visitors from Vietnam to the county and return to Hanoi the same day with Taiwanese travelers.

Five days later, the Vietnamese carrier will bring the Taiwanese tourists back to Taiwan and then transport the Vietnamese visitors home, according to county officials.

The county initially planned to only arrange that one group of flights but later added two more groups of flights in late October because the seats on the first flights were fully booked in less than a month.

Meanwhile, the county said it will continue establishing direct air links between it and East and Southeast Asian countries to boost local tourism.

Taiwan has set a goal of 10 million foreign visitor arrivals this year, according to the Tourism Administration, and had welcomed 2.6 million foreign visitors in the first four months of 2024.