The number of overseas visitors to Taiwan is set to pass the ten million mark for the first time in history.
The tourism bureau says that the ten millionth visitor this year is likely to arrive some time on either December 15 or 16. Taiwan almost hit that milestone last year, but fell short with 9.91 million arrivals.
Despite the growth in overseas visitors, the tourism bureau says that may not necessarily translate into an increase in spending. The bureau is predicting that overseas tourists will inject about NT$445 billion (US$13.62 billion) into the nation’s tourism-related businesses. That’s down from US$14.60 billion last year.
A bureau official said the projected drop in spending was due to the depreciation of the Taiwan dollar against the greenback, a shorter average length of stay, and the greater use of independent budget travel.