More Filipinos expected to visit Taiwan this year

MANILA, Philippines — Over 350,000 Filipino tourists are expected to visit Taiwan this year, prompted by the visa free entry of Filipinos and as well as Taiwan’s aggressive marketing campaign in the country.

On the sidelines of the Fun Taipei music video launch Tuesday, deputy commissioner of Taipei City’s Department of Information and Tourism Yu-Shin Chen said Taiwan has seen a surge in Filipino tourist arrivals this year.

Chen reported that a total of 190,791 Filipino tourists arrived in Taiwan from January to May, a 60.36 percent rise from last year’s figures.

In 2017, the number Filipinos who visited Taiwan grew an estimated 68.6 percent to 290,784 in 2017 from 172,475 in 2016 after the implementation of the visa-free policy for Filipinos which started in November 2017.

Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (TECO) deputy representative James Chu said the visa-free entry for Filipinos approved last November is only on trial basis and is set to end on July 31, but its extension is still under review.

“The trial period will end this month, so that means we are going to announce our new decision, whether we are going to extend or we will terminate it,” Chu said.

He said that while the decision on the policy is still under review, he sees a strong chance of it being extended.

“We are still under the review process, but my sense is that the probability is 95 percent that we are going to extend because we found out that this policy is very helpful to enhance the mutual understanding between the Filipinos and Taiwanese,” he said.

Meanwhile, in line with attracting more Filipinos to visit Taiwan, Taipei City’s Department of Information and Tourism launched a music video in collaboration with Filipino Youtube star Mikey Bustos which promotes the city’s travel and food.

Chen said the music video mainly targets young travellers.

“However, we know the Philippines puts importance in family, therefore we also target families,” she said.

The agency has invited more than 40 local travel agencies and tour operators to meet with Taipei business delegates in a bid to attract more Filipinos to visit Taiwan.

The Taiwan Tourism Bureau earlier said it would set up a Taiwan Pavillion at the “Travel Madness Expo (TME) 2018” – at the SMX Convention Center from July 5th to 8th –  which will showcase the country’s offerings such as gourmet food, shopping options, and flower harvesting.