Taiwan tops globe in international tourist growth

2014-10-06

Taiwan has the world’s fastest growing international tourism industry among the top 50 destination countries, according to a recent U.N. World Tourism Organization report.

Taiwan’s 26.7 percent year-on-year increase in the first half of 2014 trumped its Asian neighbors in a region that is witnessing massive growth. Japan was second at 26.4 percent, South Korea fourth at 18.5 percent, Vietnam sixth at 15.6 percent and Hong Kong ninth at 10.5 percent, according to the report.

“We are extremely pleased by the impressive statistics, which show the government’s wide-ranging marketing campaign targeting key markets worldwide has paid handsome dividends,” said Liu Hsi-lin, deputy director-general of the Tourism Bureau under the Ministry of Transportation and Communications.

Liu said joint tourism promotional efforts such as the partnership between Taipei 101 and Japan’s Tokyo Skytree, as well as Taiwan’s strategy to develop tourism focused on the cultural and creative industry had also boosted inbound tourism revenues. Taiwan’s  revenue growth ranked third globally during the period at 18.5 percent, following Japan at 27.5 percent and South Korea at 25.2 percent.

According to Liu, travel within Asia was the main factor driving the expansion. Of 6.44 million inbound tourist visits to Taiwan in the first eight months of 2014, more than 5.83 million were from the region, reflecting an annual increase of 27.91 percent.

Numbers from South Korea rose the fastest, at 72.96 percent, while those from mainland China and Japan jumped by 37.35 percent and 17.95 percent, respectively, Liu said.

“We are optimistic this stellar growth will continue for the rest of the year as we introduce new and effective strategies going forward.”

According to the UNWTO report, total global international tourist arrivals were up by 4.6 percent year on year to 517 million in the first half of 2014.

Source: Taiwan Today (http://taiwantoday.tw/ct.asp?xItem=222402&CtNode=413)