Are Korean tourists dissatisfied? Taiwan tourism sees lowest satisfaction among them

Tourism Center / Taipei Report

In recent years, Taiwan has actively promoted tourism. The Tourism Bureau has vigorously pushed the “Travel in Taiwan ‘It’s Now or Never’” and “Tourism Excellence and Leadership Program” initiatives, achieving a 6.36% growth in 2012 (101 in the Republic of China calendar), setting a historical record. The Japanese and Chinese markets contributed the most economic benefits. Although tourist satisfaction from all countries reached 90%, the Korean market’s satisfaction with travel in Taiwan was only 84.8%.

▲ Taiwan’s unique night market food is one of the highlights attracting foreign visitors. (Illustration / CommonWealth Magazine)

To understand the travel motivations, spending patterns, satisfaction levels, and opinions of visitors to Taiwan, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications' Tourism Bureau has conducted the “Visitor Spending and Trend Survey” annually at Taoyuan International Airport, Kaohsiung International Airport (Kai Tak), and Songshan Airport. Based on a sample of 6,015 respondents in 2012 (101 in the ROC calendar), it was found that the annual tourism foreign exchange earnings reached US$11.769 billion (approximately NT$348.5 billion), an increase of 6.36%, setting a historical high.

In 2012, the average daily spending per visitor to Taiwan was US$234.31. The main markets saw Japanese visitors with the highest average daily spending at US$308.65, followed by Chinese visitors at US$265.26. In terms of detailed spending categories, Chinese visitors had the highest daily shopping expenditure at US$157.37, followed by Japanese visitors at US$71.36.

▲ Many local cultural elements and traditional toys are loved even by domestic travelers. (Illustration / CommonWealth Magazine)

In terms of satisfaction, 95% of visitors expressed overall satisfaction with their experience in Taiwan, a 2 percentage point increase from 2011 (100 in the ROC calendar). Among the main markets, except for the Korean market with an 84.8% satisfaction rate, all other markets had satisfaction rates of over 92%. Chinese visitors had the highest overall satisfaction rate at 98.1%, followed by New Zealand and Australia at 98.0%, Europe at 97.4%, Hong Kong and Macau at 96.1%, and the United States at 95.4%. Compared to 2011, the Korean visitors showed the largest increase in satisfaction, up by 12 percentage points.