TAIPEI (TVBS News) — Kuomintang (KMT) presidential nominee Hou Yu-ih pledged on Thursday (Aug. 24) to boost Taiwan's tourism under his potential administration.
Following his recent Kinmen trip, Hou shared ambitions to facilitate a "National Tourism Conference" and open the nation to visits from Chinese tourists.
Hou hopes to attract more than 18 million tourists during his four years in office if elected.
Under the current Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) administration, the visitor count from China and individual spending among travelers have dropped considerably, pointed out by KMT think tank head Ko Chih-en.
She disclosed that the initial 2023 tourism target proposed by the Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC) was 8.06 million travelers but has since been adjusted to 6 million.
In light of this, Hou Yu-ih acknowledges that the current status of the tourism sector remains in a challenging position.
He compared Taiwan's tourism recovery with other Asian countries, including Thailand, Japan, and South Korea.
Following the COVID-19 pandemic, tourism industries in the abovementioned countries resumed more than 50% of their pre-pandemic tourism levels, whereas Taiwan restored only 45%.
Hou suggested four tourism initiatives to instigate change: raising organizational hierarchy, escalating the tourism budget annually by 15-20%, creating convenient transportation networks, and fostering sustainable and intelligent tourism.
He believes that the Executive Yuan should regularly convene tourism conferences chaired by the Premier.
He also proposed ten tourism sectors for development: healthcare, cruise ships, gourmet food, arts and literature, cultural heritage, sports events, eco-marine tourism, and hiking.