Taiwan aims to attract 700,000 foreign tourists to the country by the end of this year and restore the total number of arrivals to pre-coronavirus-pandemic levels of about 10 million by 2024, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC) said Thursday when the nation reopened its border to tourists.
The ministry said in a report during a regular Cabinet meeting that in response to the reopening of Taiwan’s border, it will be actively promoting multi-themed tourism such as developing sample travel itineraries, recommending tours featuring ecology, culture, bicycles, and railways.
It will also work to gradually resume flight routes and cruise services to provide tourists with different travel experiences, according to the ministry.
The ministry said it had organized training programs on epidemic prevention for travel guides and tour leaders and an estimated 15,000 people had received online and offline training.
In a bid to accelerate the recovery of the tourism market in Taiwan, the MOEA will target travelers mainly from Japan and South Korea, followed by those from countries included in Taiwan’s New Southbound Policy — Southeast Asian and South Asian nations, Australia, and New Zealand — as well as the European and American markets.
In related developments, two outbound tour groups on Thursday became the first to depart from Taiwan since the early stages of the pandemic in 2020 when COVID-19-related border controls were imposed in the nation.
One tour group composed of 21 members departed for Penang, Malaysia on a China Airlines flight, while the other with 18 tourists left for Bangkok, Thailand on a StarLux Airlines flight for a five-day trip to Pattaya, according to Lion Travel Service Co., Ltd., the organizer of the two tours.
Since the government late last month announced its plan to lift the border controls, many companies have booked tours and travel packages with the travel agency, with long-haul routes to Europe their top choice, according to Lion Travel President Huang Hsin-chuan (黃信川).
Among around 6,000 people who booked travel package deals, about 50 percent picked Northeast Asia as their destination, 30 percent chose Europe, and 20 percent selected other Asian countries, Huang said.
Currently, flight services have resumed to about 30-40 percent of their pre-COVID-pandemic levels, which would result in a 30-40 percent recovery for the tourism sector, Huang added.
Also on Thursday, a group of 20 Vietnamese tour operators arrived in Taiwan for a five-day familiarization trip in the country, invited by the regional office of MOTC’s Tourism Bureau in Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam.
According to Chou Hsin-yi (周欣毅), the director of the office, Taiwan is one of the most popular tourist destinations for Vietnamese.
In 2018, approximately 490,000 Vietnamese tourists came to Taiwan and since then, the number of Vietnamese and Taiwanese visiting each other’s country had exceeded 1 million, according to Chou.
Meanwhile, with the lifting of border controls, the Mainland Affairs Council downgraded its travel advisory for mainland China, Hong Kong, and Macau from “red,” the highest level, meaning “do not visit,” to “yellow” — meaning “reconsider visiting.”
The MAC also again reminded citizens to get fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and practice preventive measures when traveling abroad.
In addition, Japanese budget carrier Peach Aviation announced Thursday it planned to resume flights between Okinawa and Taiwan from Nov. 17 after a 32-month service suspension due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Peach said in a statement that its services between Naha Airport and Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport that were suspended March 20, 2020 would be resumed.
The carrier said that it would offer one trip between Naha and Taoyuan per day, adding that tickets went on sale on Thursday.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel