Tourism expert Yung Chi-yeh says that Taiwan has great potential as a cruise destination. Yung was speaking at an event on trends in the tourism industry held by the Office of the President on Wednesday.
Yung said that the cruise market is one way of keeping up forward momentum in Taiwan’s tourism industry following a record year for tourist arrivals. Taiwan saw more than 10 million overseas visits in 2015. Yung said that Taiwan is an island country, and that the large number of passengers cruise ships can carry means that cruises give Taiwan opportunity for further boosting tourist numbers.
Meanwhile, Yung said that changes in China will impact the tourism industry throughout the Asia-Pacific region. He said that Chinese tourists’ collective spending power reached US$165 billion in 2014.
He said that Taiwan must consider the kind of flexibility it will need to maintain in cross-strait relations in order to allow its tourism industry to better develop.