Taiwan seeks to boost its tourism and trade ties with the Philippines.
Wallace Minn-Gan Chow, special representative of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Manila, on Friday said Taiwan targets to grow to 320,000 the number of visitors from the Philippines this year, from just 65,000 in 2022.
Chow expressed confidence this will be achieved with the extension of the 14-day visa-free program for Filipino tourists until July 31, 2024.
“After Taiwan reopened its border on October 13 last year, we have seen the number of Filipino visitors to Taiwan grow rapidly,” Chow told attendees of the Taiwan Tourism Workshop at the Conrad Hotel in Pasay City.
Chow said he sees the huge potential of tourism prospects as there are now around 116 weekly flights between the two countries..
Alex Lai, director of the Taiwan Trade Center, in an interview, said he sees strong interest from Taiwanese companies in manufacturing in the Philippines as well as trade prospects in agriculture particularly aquaculture.
Lai said a number of Taiwanese electronics firms have been operating in the Philippines for many years and continue to expand.
He expressed confidence two-way trade between the two countries will rebound following a 20 percent decline in the early part of the year due to lower demand brought by global consumer spending cuts.
In 2022, two-way trade stood at $100 million.
Lai also said Taiwan is in need of more workers and sees the Philippines as a potential source. He did not elaborate but said there are 150,000 Filipinos working in Taiwan mostly as household and factory workers.
Last Friday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) announced it extended the trial visa-free entry measure for one year for nationals of Thailand, Brunei, and the Philippines from Aug. 1, 2023, to July 31, 2024 in line with efforts to promote the New Southbound Policy.
MOFA said the Project for Simplifying Visa Regulations for High-end Group Tourists from Southeast Asian Countries will continue for a further year through Dec. 31, 2024.
