Taiwan counting on Korean, Singaporean and Hong Kong tourists as mainland Chinese still denied entry

A total of 2.7 million people visited from overseas from January through June, according to Taiwan Tourism Bureau data – far from the minuscule numbers seen from 2020 through early last year.
 
Hong Kong was the top source over those six months, with 419,674 tourists, followed by 324,420 from Japan and 313,000 from South Korea, the data shows. After the US in fourth place, at 231,182 arrivals, Malaysia followed with 202,784, and Singapore had 198,749.
 
Vietnam, Thailand and the Philippines contributed about 535,000 people in total. “They are the mainstay of inbound arrivals,” said Tony Phoo, an economist with Standard Chartered Bank in Taipei. “It helps in terms of the sector’s recovery, because we only recently opened the border in October.”
 
Tourists, year to date, are coming most obviously from South Korea, said Bian Chieh-min, general manager of Phoenix Tours in Taipei. At stake are about 9,500 Taiwanese tour guides, 2,800 travel agencies and 3,400 hotels. Many weathered the pandemic on government subsidies and domestic tourism, while others closed for good.
 
Taiwan appeals to other Asian travellers often because of relatively low prices and a wealth of budget airlines that can reach it in three to four hours. Curiosity about its food, the island’s Japanese colonial history, and its adaptation of Chinese culture lure travellers too.
 
Up to 100 passers-by from Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore stop on busy weekend days at Tsai Wan-nong’s 50-year-old roadside food stall, which she says has been hit by rising rent and utility rates. She sells on Danshui Old Street, a focal point in the Danshui riverside historic and dining zone north of Taipei.