In 2011 the island of Taiwan received more than six million
foreign visitors. During the first eight months of 2012 the inbound tourist
flow amounted to about 4.7 million tourists, which is 24.8% more than in the
same period of last year.
The share of Russian
tourists in the flow is really small though. Yet the Taipei-Moscow coordination
committee on economic and cultural cooperation considers the increase in the
tourist flow from Russia
to be substantial. Last year it amounted to 22%, compared to 2010 figures –
6667 tourists in 2011 opposed to 5454 in 2010. This year’s data shows that from
January to August the number of visitors from China increased by 54%, from
Hong-Kong and Macao – by 18.9%, from Japan – by 18.3% (all compared to same
period in 2011).
According to Russian
tour operators, the relations with Taiwan are developing year after
year at a steady pace. General Manager of China Tour & Business Travel,
Sergey Dzhan Sha confirmed that the majority of our tourists visit the island
on business purposes, to participate in trade fairs and take tours of
production facilities. Every year the company sends about 50 people to Taiwan. And the
General Manager assures that these statistics are pretty much the same for
anyone dealing with this destination.
This opinion is
seconded by Head of Sales Department in Oriental Discovery, Natalia Dalbinova.
She confirms that the tourist flow is growing very slowly. The island has many
hi tech production facilities and houses many popular trade-fairs, especially
in the game industry. So most of her clients visit Taiwan for a couple of days to take
part in the fair and meet with their foreign partners. “The ration of
businessmen to tourists is about 10 to 1. And these rare tourists are usually
wealthy people, who have seen most of the world, and need Taiwan just for
their checklist”, - explains Mrs. Dalbinova. According to her, real tourists
prefer to visit the lakes, like the famous lake of The Sun and The Moon – the
biggest in the region. National parks are also popular: “We even offer an
overnight tour to one of the Buddhist temples”.
Natalia Dalbinova is
not expecting a steep increase in the number of Russian tourists to Taiwan in
recent years. She feels the destination is not promoted enough, the market has
no information on the tourist attractions and services the island offers. And
business partners usually arrange visits without turning to tour operators.
Sergey Sedov, Head of
the Department at Astravel, sees a lighter future for Russian tourism.
According to him, the number of Russian visitors to Taiwan increases by about 10% every
year. He remembers how ten years ago the whole tourist flow from Russia amounted
to about three thousand people. And now the number has doubled. “Still, we’re
not playing any important role in Taiwan’s tourism. Just think about
it – Turkey
alone receives about 20 thousand Russian tourists every day”, - Mr. Sedov
compared the numbers. Their company sends around 800-900 people to the island of Formosa every year, almost all of them
are businessmen.
There are no direct
flights to Taipei from Russia, so every tourist has to make a transit
in Singapore, Bangkok, Hong-Kong or Seoul. The expert reminded that several years
ago Transaero introduced a direct flight, but it didn’t pay off, and was shut
down. Sergey Sedov also noted that slow development of the travel industry in Taiwan is due
to high prices. A visit to the island will cost you five times more than
visiting continental China.