Taipei: President Lai Ching-te on Friday vowed to coordinate a national strategy to strengthen Taiwan's tourism sector, with the goal of boosting spending by domestic travelers to NT$1 trillion (US$31 billion) by 2030. Speaking at the opening of the 2025 Taipei International Travel Fair (ITF), Lai emphasized the importance of leveraging Taiwan's natural scenery, cuisine, and cultural diversity through closer public-private collaboration.
According to Focus Taiwan, Taiwan's domestic tourism output reached NT$837.8 billion last year, and the government aims to increase this figure to NT$1 trillion by 2030. President Lai highlighted that tourism development encompasses three critical areas: domestic, inbound, and outbound travel. Citing statistics from the Tourism Association, he noted that Taiwanese people spend more than NT$1.4 trillion annually on tourism, with around NT$900 billion allocated to overseas travel and about NT$500 billion to domestic trips, indicating potential for growth in the domestic market.
To address this, Lai has instructed the Ministry of Transportation and Communications and the Executive Yuan to establish a dedicated unit to study and promote tourism development. This unit will integrate tourism policies and industry chains, strengthening overall competitiveness through talent cultivation, product development, and industrial structure integration.
Discussing ways to boost domestic tourism, President Lai pointed to favorable trends, including 33 public holidays across nine long weekends next year, as well as rising disposable incomes from tax cuts and welfare measures. However, he acknowledged that while Taiwan has a solid foundation for promoting domestic tourism, challenges remain. He warned that if the quality of domestic tourism does not compare favorably with international options and if price differences are not substantial, people may still choose to travel overseas.
Lai cited Japan as an example, noting that Taiwanese made 6 million trips to Japan last year due to convenient transportation and attractive airfares. The Tourism Administration announced plans to launch incentives next year to encourage corporate domestic travel and invite overseas Taiwanese businesses to organize tours of Taiwan.
The 2025 ITF, running from Nov. 7 to 10 at the Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center, features exhibitors from 123 countries and cities, including Japan, South Korea, and the United States. It also includes participation from more than 40 Taiwanese travel agencies and 130 hotels, restaurants, airlines, and theme parks.