Taiwan attracts 6.28 mln tourists in 7 months since January

More than 6.28 million tourists from outside Taiwan visited the island from January to July, an increase of 7.93 percent from the same period last year, according to a report released by the island's tourism bureau on Thursday.

According to the report, there were about 2.41 million tourists from the Chinese mainland during the period, 38 percent of all visitors from outside the island. The reading posted translates to 0.41 percent growth compared with the same period last year. The number of mainland tourists had been contracting since May.

Although the number of individual visitors from the mainland rose slightly, the number of tourists visiting the island on group tours declined by about 30 percent over the three months since May, compared with the same period last year, according to the report.

The number of tourists from the Republic of Korea grew by 29.01 percent in the period, the highest among all sources.

Promotions contributed to an increase of 17.46 percent in the number of tourists from Japan in the seven months, according to the report, which added that the island aims to attract about 10 million tourists from outside the island this year. Endi