Taiwan counting on Korean, Singaporean and Hong Kong tourists as mainland Chinese still denied entry
- Some landmark spots in Taiwan are relatively quiet compared with when sites were packed with mainland Chinese tourists before the pandemic, forcing those who depend on tourism to adapt to new trends
- What are the top six sources of tourists to Taiwan in the absence of mainland Chinese?
Brendon Au has a thing for travel in and around mainland China. The Singapore denizen’s parents are from Hong Kong, hence his keenness. Au initially applied for a mainland China visa this year, but that took so long that he decided instead to visit Taiwan – twice in the span of three months.
During his six-day trip in May and another foray last month, the owner of restaurants and financial services took advantage of the lack of mainland Chinese tourists – a sharp contrast with when he visited the island in 2019.
The steep-walled Taroko Gorge and nearby Seven Star Lake coastline used to be packed landmarks, he recalled, but not this year.
“It was interesting because there were no [mainland] Chinese tourists,” said Au, 35. “Usually you’d have to avoid a lot of the destinations like Taroko Gorge, but it was empty, so that was a pleasure for me.”
Instead, he ran into a bounty of tourists like himself from elsewhere in East Asia, and they help comprise a group that is forming a new trend in Taiwanese tourism.
