Overseas visitor arrivals surpass 2023 numbers: Tourism Administration

Taipei, Nov. 13 (CNA) The number of foreign nationals visiting Taiwan this year to date has surpassed total visitor numbers for 2023, the Tourism Administration said Wednesday, but the total still remained well behind pre-pandemic levels.

In a statement, the tourism agency said 6.49 million overseas visitors had arrived in Taiwan this year as of Nov. 12, surpassing the 6.48 million who visited Taiwan in all of 2023.

This growth in visitor arrivals has been achieved despite several factors that negatively affected the inbound market, the Tourism Administration said.

It was likely referring to a magnitude 7.2 earthquake that struck off eastern Taiwan in early April, as well as several typhoons that have affected Taiwan during the summer and early fall.

Yet, the arrival numbers were still far off the pace that would have been needed to equal the pre-COVID-19 pandemic level of 11.86 million in 2019.

The government originally set a target of 10 million overseas visitors for 2024, but Transportation Minister Chen Shih-kai (陳世凱) admitted in early November that the target would be difficult to attain.

He said at the time the more likely figure would be at least 7.5 million visitors, with a chance of topping 8 million.

In Wednesday's statement, the agency said it was still promoting several measures to attract visitors before the end of this year, given that the fourth quarter is the peak season for travel.

These include buy-one-get-one-free discounts for Taiwan high-speed rail tickets, specially arranged discounts from airlines and travel agencies, and additional "Taiwan the Lucky Land" lucky draws for repeat visits, the agency said.

The administration also made efforts in 2024 to lay the groundwork to return visitor numbers to pre-pandemic levels, the statement said.

New Taiwan Tourism Information Centers were set up in Jakarta, Mumbai, Paris and Vancouver, and there are plans to set up a similar office in Manila by the end of 2024 and two more in Sydney and Amsterdam in 2025, the statement said.

It has also invited celebrities of major Taiwan tourism markets as spokespeople to promote Taiwan, such as Satoshi Tsumabuki in Japan and KyuHyun in South Korea.

Though the biggest falloff in visitors compared to pre-pandemic levels is from mainland China, down 89 percent as of August because of Beijing's restrictions on travel to Taiwan, visitors from Japan have also tumbled, down 40 percent from 2019.

In contrast, visitor numbers from South Korea and Southeast Asia have rebounded to near pre-pandemic levels.

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