The haze is lifting, with inbound travelers to Taiwan rebounding in August

Text by Li Xinyi, compiled and reported

The international inbound tourism market to Taiwan experienced consecutive impacts in the first half of the year from the March 11 earthquake and nuclear radiation leak in Japan, the Alishan forest railway accident, and the food plasticizer incident, causing significant fluctuations in the growth rate of inbound travelers from January to August this year. Thanks to the Tourism Bureau’s continuous efforts in promoting Taiwan through international media, the inbound tourism market has been steadily recovering since July, with all markets showing significant growth in August. The Tourism Bureau aims to reach the target of 6 million visitors.

From January to February this year, the average growth rate of inbound travelers to Taiwan was 16.50% (with monthly growth rates of 15.79% and 17.13% respectively). However, after the massive earthquake in northeastern Japan on March 11, the Alishan forest railway accident, and the subsequent food plasticizer incident, which were widely reported by mainland Chinese, Hong Kong, Macau, and Malaysian media, traveler confidence in visiting Taiwan weakened. Visitor numbers in May and June declined by 7% and 1.66% respectively, resulting in an overall growth rate of only 4.51% for inbound travelers to Taiwan in the first half of this year.

With relevant authorities strengthening safety measures for both tourism and food, the number of inbound travelers to Taiwan returned to positive growth of 8.86% in July, and reached double-digit growth of 14.62% in August. Over the next four months, the Tourism Bureau will launch a Japan market push plan, inviting celebrity endorsers Fahrenheit to attend the Tokyo International Travel Fair and promotional events in Japan. It will also accelerate product promotion in Beijing, Shanghai, and Xiamen—cities where independent travel has been newly opened—in hopes of achieving the annual target of 6 million inbound travelers in the year 2011.