Taiwan keen to lure Middle East travellers

The expansion of Gulf Carriers has witnessed opening up of many new destinations. One of the many is Taiwan which is being explored with Emirates soon to be launched connection to Taipei. Riding on this trend, Taiwan Tourism were recently present in UAE to promote the destination. As per statistics, inbound numbers to Taiwan was 7.31mn and for 2014, the board is targeting eight million. In the past few years, from 2008 – 12, the country has witnessed a growth of one million tourist per year. Building on this positive trend, the target for 2016 will be to reach 10 million tourists. Talking to Travel Daily Middle East, Eric Lin, Director – International Affairs Division, Tourism Bureau Ministry of Transportation and Communications, ROC said: “Emirates is going to commence their flight to Taipei. This will boost relations and interest for mutual purposes. Our population is around 23 million, so if at least half of the population travels around the year, we will see increased numbers in tourists. This will result in huge numbers. This connectivity will also encourage our people to travel to the Middle East.” In terms of key markets, Taiwan receives its major tourists from Mainland China which accounts for 2.6 mn in 2012; this was followed by Japan with 1.4 mn and Hong Kong with 1.03 mn. The other major markets are South Asia such as Malaysia and Singapore, North America with around 400,000 and Europe accounts for 250,000. Lin further explains: “We are now looking at the Muslim market and focusing on this segment. This would be from South East Asia such as Indonesia and Malaysia. We are also very positive about the UAE and have received encouraging responses from the trade with regards to the destination. Based on the growth we receive from this market, we could look at having an office here.” Source: Travel Daily