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WHILE a number of countries want to implement fees for foreign tourists, such as Thailand and Venice Italy, Taiwan is doing the opposite. Taiwan will give money to travelers who come to its territory as an incentive.
The island will hand out NT$5,000 to 500,000 individual tourists along with up to NT$20,000 to 90,000 tour groups. The money will be given digitally once the tourists arrive and can be used to cover expenses while in Taiwan, including for meals or accommodation.
However, travelers looking to plan a trip may want to wait as it is unclear when the money will be issued or how to apply for it. “The money will be given through several tourism promotion events this year, rather than giving it all at once,” said Tourism Bureau Director General Chang Shi-chung. “Thus, not all international tourists will receive it.”
The incentive program was launched as the government aims to attract six million tourists by 2023 and 10 million tourists by 2025.
According to Transportation Minister Wang Kuo-tsai said Taiwan hopes to use the incentives to bring in visitors from key markets, including Japan, South Korea, Southeast Asia, Hong Kong and Macau, Europe and America.
Currently, Taiwan has also lifted travel restrictions, such as no need for a COVID-19 test before travel, lifted quarantine rules and relaxed rules on wearing masks.
Taiwan is not the first destination to pay tourists to visit. In 2021, Malta introduced a scheme to pay tourists to stay in hotels there. Last year, a region in the northeast corner of Italy chose to cover the cost of train travel in an effort to promote sustainable travel. [sources/photo special]
