Tourists to Taiwan to dwindle 400,000 this year

The number of tourists to Taiwan is likely to shrink this year due to fewer travelers from the Chinese mainland, according to the island's tourism authority on Wednesday.

Inbound tourists are expected to decline by 300,000 to 400,000 this year, Chou Yung-hui, Director-General of Taiwan's tourism bureau, said when testifying before the local legislative body.

The number of mainland tourists has plummeted since Taiwan's leader Tsai Ing-wen took office in May. The tourism bureau estimated earlier that mainland tourists decreased by 28.4 percent in the third quarter from a year earlier.

The decline in mainland tourist arrivals cannot be offset by increasing tourists from Japan, the Republic of Korea and Southeast Asia, he added.

Tourism-related sectors have felt the pain and demanded the government take measures to help them make ends meet.

Although the government has offered loans to help the struggling sectors cope with their plight, business owners don't expect them to sort out their long-term woes.

The island's Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) estimated earlier that if the number of mainland tourists to Taiwan declines 10 percent this year, it will trim the island's annual economic output growth by 0.1 percentage points.

Taiwan's economy has just emerged from a recession and grew 2.06 percent in the third quarter. While the island's economy is highly relevant to the tourism industry, experts said it will face more uncertainties from dwindling mainland tourists. Endit