Average visitor's spending posts double-digit fall in '12

Each inbound passenger spent an average of US$1,601 in Taiwan in 2012, down US$217, or 11.9 percent, from 2011, according to figures compiled by Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS).

The number of incoming visitors reached 7.311 million in 2012, up 20.1 percent from the year-earlier level, helping overall foreign visitor spending in Taiwan rise about 5.8 percent from a year earlier to US$11.7 billion.

Tourism Bureau officials said the fall in average spending in 2012 resulted primarily from a huge jump in spending in 2011 by Japanese visitors to Taiwan, which rose 22.97 percent to US$348 per day, from US$283 per day in 2010.

The Japanese spent more on leisure activities in Taiwan like spas and hot springs following the March 11 earthquake and tsunami and subsequent nuclear disaster in Japan, the officials said.

Per-day spending by Japanese visitors returned to a more normal level last year, the bureau estimates.

“The average per visitor spending in 2012 actually followed the trend of a 2- to 3-percent rise in average spending per visit from 2006-2010. It's just that spending really soared in 2011, so 2012 looked like a down year,” said Lai Ping-jung, head of the bureau's planning division.

On outbound tourism, Taiwanese citizens made 10.24 million overseas visits in 2012, up 6.8 percent from the year-earlier level, but per capita spending dropped slightly from US$1,055 to US$1,038, according to DGBAS figures.

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