Japanese tourism in 2019 expected to increase after news of China's tourist ban

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/08/05
By: Duncan DeAeth, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – On Aug. 1, the Chinese government announced that it would be suspending all individual permits for travel to Taiwan, forcing Chinese citizens hoping to visit the country to join officially approved tour groups instead. The move is widely seen as an attempted political maneuver to damage Taiwan’s economy ahead of the January 2020 elections.

While Taiwan is likely to see a major dip in tourism from China in the coming months, there are reasons to be optimistic, as the sudden drop in Chinese visitors will make Taiwan’s popular tourist destinations less crowded. Japanese website Zakzak is encouraging Japanese vacationers to consider visiting Taiwan in 2019 on account of decreased crowds and potential travel deals offered by hotels and tour operators to make up for losses.

According to the article, now is a “great chance” to visit Taiwan, which is regularly a top destination for Japanese tourists. In 2013, there were 1.24 million Japanese visitors to Taiwan, but by 2017 that number had increased to 1.9 million, reports Zakzak.    [FULL  STORY]