Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/12/02
By: Tang Pei-chun and Elizabeth Hsu
Taipei, Dec. 2 (CNA) A New Southbound Policy introduced by the administration of President Tsai
Ing-wen (蔡英文) has been showing results in the tourism sector, with visitor arrivals from the target countries increasing, the Cabinet’s Office of Trade Negotiations said Friday.
In October, visitor arrivals from South and Southeast Asia, Australia, and New Zealand grew 25.4 percent year-on-year to 166,931, the office said in a statement, citing Tourism Bureau statistics.
The robust growth in tourist arrivals from those areas, compared with an 8.75 percent decline in arrivals from all over the world, proves that the government’s New Southbound Policy is reaping success in the tourism sector, the office said.
The number of visitors from those areas is expected to continue to increase, the office said, adding that the figures for the period from January to October showed a 47.1 percent year-on-year growth in tourist arrivals from Thailand, 24.3 percent in the number from Vietnam and 18.8 percent from the Philippines. [FULL STORY]