TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Two months since the country’s borders opened up in mid-October the average number of visitors per day stands at just 13,500 — a smaller rebound than expected.

On Oct. 13 the nation rolled back some COVID precautions and dispensed with quarantine on arrival, in addition to allowing visitors of all nationalities to visit. A weekly limit of 150,000 visitors was announced, meaning around 21,429 people a day.

On Dec. 10 there is expected to be a further loosening of the cap on inbound travelers to facilitate Christmas and Lunar New Year visits. This should increase the number of arrivals. However, so far, the expected flood of tourists has been more of a steady flow than a flood.

Taiwan Tourism Bureau figures suggest that from Oct. 13 to Nov. 23 the number of inbound tourists was 540,000, for an average of 13,500 people per day. Before COVID, in 2019, Taiwan attracted a record 11,864,105 inbound visitors, up 7.21% on the previous year.

Huang Zheng-cong (黃正聰), an associate professor at the Department of Tourism at Providence University in Taichung was quoted by Mirror News as saying it was early days for a rebound. "A lot of people in the industry have not yet returned to the field. Many travel industry companies are quite conservative about promoting tours.”

The report looked at the difference between the number of Taiwanese visiting Japan and vice versa. It suggested the number of Japanese visitors to Taiwan in October was just 9,625, whereas there were 36,000 going the other way.

Huang Shi-fang (黃勢芳), head of the bureau’s International Tour Division was reported as saying, "The Japanese currency has been falling and air tickets are expensive, meaning economic purchasing power is affected, so it will affect their willingness to travel. Japan also offers discounts for domestic travel."