Tsai aims for NT$1tn tourism industry

GROWTH ENGINE: Despite falling Chinese visitor numbers, the nation is on track to attract over 10 million foreign travelers for the fifth straight year, the president said

Taipei Times
Date: Dec 17, 2019
By: Shelley Shan  /  Staff reporter

Promising to turn Taiwan into one of Asia’s prime travel destinations in the next 10 years, President

Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday said that tourism would become a growth driver for the nation’s economy, generating more than NT$1 trillion (US$33 billion) in output.

“We introduced the ‘Big Southern Project’ on Sunday, which is to be enforced to balance development in northern and southern Taiwan. Our goal is that the tourism industry becomes a locomotive that drives the economy forward,” she said at the opening of the “Tourism 2030: National Tourism Policy Development Conference.”

As of last week, Taiwan had received 11.11 million international visitors this year, which would be the fifth year that the number of foreign travelers has exceeded 10 million, Tsai said.

The latest Global Muslim Travel Index ranked Taiwan No. 3 among its non-Muslim country travel destinations, she added.    [FULL  STORY]