TAIPEI: The number of international travelers to Taiwan fell 5.2 percent in January and February this year, over the same period last year, with the only bright spot coming from a year-on-year increase in the number of visitors from the mainland, Hong Kong and Macao, the Tourism Bureau said yesterday.

Visits from the mainland shot up 107 percent over 2008, while the number of visitors from Hong Kong and Macao surged 27 percent. The number of travelers from Japan, the US and Europe uniformly declined in the January - February period, as compared to the same period of 2008.

Tourism Bureau figures show the island recorded 580,196 visitors from all destinations during the first two months of the year. Two-thirds of the number were tourists, one third were business travelers.

The leap in the number of visitors from the mainland follows directly the inauguration of daily charter flights between the island and the mainland in December. March has witnessed an even greater increase as foreign cruise ships were granted rights to bring tour groups from the mainland.

Last year's 3.84 million foreign visitors fell short of the government's goal of attracting four million visitors.

Since the beginning of this year, the government has introduced further initiatives, including consideration of gambling casinos on offshore islands, to attract more tourists and provide stimulus to the island's troubled economy.

China Daily/DPA

(HK Edition 03/25/2009 page1)