With arrivals from Mainland China and other Asian countries increasing rapidly, Taiwan has released its plans to increase the country’s tourism by such a degree that 10 million people should be visiting every year.
The agreement signed between Taiwan and China in July 2008 has had serious implications on the Taiwanese tourism sector. As many other countries around the globe have discovered, Chinese citizens have opened up a plethora of new opportunities in the world of tourism and, as Taiwan is so close, it is very much enjoying the benefits. Just over 1.16 million Chinese tourists visited Taiwan last year, contributing heavily to a foreign arrivals figure of 5.56 million, 26% up on the previous year.
The Taiwanese tourism bureau is very keen to build on this level of growth to turn the country into an attractive tourism destination. As Europeans and North Americans have started to travel further away in recent years, Taiwan wishes to take full advantage and shed the old image of being China’s industrial playground once and for all. Surging tourism from Mainland China is just the beginning.
The twenty four recreational parks of Taiwan are seen as massive lures for further tourists to visit. The worry is that, as Chinese people are now just beginning to spread their wings, they are visiting Taiwan due to its proximity. If Taiwan does not respond by attracting people in a different way, it could lose the influx of Chinese tourists. Taiwan is also looking towards making visa requirements more advantageous to attract more visitors in the near future.