Improving Taiwan's tourist attractions

The Taipei-based Taiwan Strait Tourism Association opened an office in Beijing on May 4, while Beijing's Cross-Straits Tourism Association opened an office in Taipei on May 7. It was the first such move by semi-official agencies of Taiwan and China in six decades.

Tourism was listed by the Taiwan government as one of six emerging industries that will be entitled to special assistance. Tourist arrivals increased by 14.3 percent in 2009, the highest rate in the Asia Pacific region that saw an average 2 percent drop owing to influenza H1N1.

There is no doubt that Chinese visitors contributed largely to the growth in Taiwan's tourist arrivals, which have been increasing ever since Beijing eased restrictions on cross-strait travel in July 2008.

The average number of arrivals from China has increased from 300 per day in 2008 to 1,686 per day in 2009, and 3,219 per day in the first four months of this year.

For the first time, China has replaced Japan as Taiwan's largest source of tourists, as indicated by the first quarter figures.

According to statistics from the Tourism Bureau under the Ministry of Transportation and Communications, there were 1.24 million tourist arrivals in Taiwan in the first quarter of this year, which was 28.1 percent higher than in the same period last year. Of that number, 340,000 were Chinese tourists, with 150,000 arrivals in March alone. This drove up the total tourist arrival figures for that month to 516,000.

It is estimated that tourism from China has already created business turnover of NT$50 billion (US$1.57 billion) and has boosted local investment in hotels, restaurants, shops and tour buses.

However, Chinese tourists are seldom exposed to Taiwan's rich and diversified culture, which includes many performance and entertainment groups. The visitors are usually given few options other than visiting Taiwan's night markets.

Taiwan is looking forward to more Chinese tourist arrivals, but the government should lead the private sector in improving the local sightseeing infrastructure and should milk this tourism trend for all it's worth.

For more details about the Taiwan tourism developments, please call 1300 787 085 or email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .