Taiwan unlikely to achieve goal of receiving 4 million visitors

Taipei - Taiwan welcomed only 3.2 million foreign visitors in the first 10 months of this year, make it hard for Taipei to reach its goal of receiving 4 million foreign visitors in 2008, official figures showed Friday.

According to the Tourism Bureau's newsletter, Taiwan received 327,038 foreign visitors in October, up 4 per cent from September.

For the January-October period, the island received 3.16 million foreign visitors, up 4.98 per cent year-on-year. Two-thirds of the guests were tourists and one-third were business travellers.

At this rate, it seems unlikely Taiwan will realize its goal of receiving 4 million foreign visitors in 2008.

In 2007, the Tourism Bureau launched Tour Taiwan Years, a three- year campaign aimed at raising the number of visitors in all categories - including tourists, business people, workers and students - by 7 per cent annually from the 2007 level, to 4 million by 2008 and 4.25 million by 2009.

Taiwan hopes to boost its inbound tourism by launching daily charter flights with China.

Taiwan will expand the weekly charter flights, launched on July 4 at the instruction of President Ma Ying-jeou, to daily charter flights on December 15 so that large numbers of Chinese tourists can visit.

Ma, from the China-friendly Chinese Nationalist Party, was inaugurated on May 20. (dpa)