TAIWAN has seen significant growth in the number of foreign visitors this year despite a decline in international tourism caused by the global economic slump and the spread of the H1N1 flu virus.
Boosted by the Taiwan Tourism Bureau’s global management strategy and diversified marketing approaches, the number of foreign visitors to Taiwan broke the four million barrier for the first time in its history at the beginning of December.
Total arrivals were expected to grow to 4.2 million by the end of the year, about 10 per cent more than the 3.85 million foreign visitors who went to Taiwan in 2008.
Taiwan is one of the few countries in Asia that will post growth in foreign arrivals for 2009, as of August 2009, only Taiwan (11.63 per cent), South Korea (14.88 per cent) and Malaysia (4.41 per cent) had recorded gains among Asian countries in foreign visitors according to the United Nations World Tourism Organisation.
“The most important goal in promoting Taiwan’s tourism is to put the country on the international tourism map,” said a tourism bureau statement.
Taiwan drew 3,945,198 foreign visitors between January and November, a 13 per cent increase on the same period last year.
Among them, a record 2.03 million, or 51 per cent, were tourists, a 28 per cent rise from the first 11 months of 2008, according to bureau figures.
Taiwan invested $30.9 million to boost foreign tourist arrivals as part of its ‘Tour Taiwan Years 2008-2009’ programme which kicked-off in February 2008.
Much of the growth in overseas tourist numbers has been due to visitors from China, who were allowed to come to Taiwan in large numbers for the first time in 2008. Expanded direct flights between Taiwan and China have also boosted arrival numbers.