Transportation Minister Wang Kwo-tsai (王國材) confirmed during a media interview on Monday that Taiwan’s tourism target this year has been revised downward due to a cross-strait travel impasse. Nonetheless, Wang adds that he is hopeful that a target of 10 million visitors could be reached with current trends of a month-on-month increase in tourist arrivals.
The Tourism Administration originally set an ambitious target of attracting 12 million international tourists to the island nation this year. However, Wang explains that with China holding firm to their ban on group tourist visits to Taiwan, the Tourism Administration director-general provided estimates that this equates to a loss of 2 to 2.5 million Chinese tourists. As such, the Tourism Administration assessed that the number of foreign visitor arrivals for this year would reach 9.5 million. Wang responded that at the minimum, the target should reach the 10 million mark.
Wang points out that through the efforts of the Tourism Administration together with Taiwan’s representative offices abroad, the number of international visitors to Taiwan has reached 1.95 million already. In approximate numbers, Wang reports that there were 580,000 visitors in January, 620,000 in February, and 750,000 in March, showing a month-on-month increase. Wang reassures the public that the Transportation Ministry will continue to strive to reach the 10 million tourist target mark despite the lack of Chinese tourists.