Keelung Port in northern Taiwan welcomed 266,000 foreign visitors in 2024, breaking the previous record of 257,000 arrivals in 2018, the Taiwan International Ports Corp. said in a Jan. 17 release.
 
According to the company overseen by the Ministry of Transportation and Communications, the port received 331 calls from cruise ships carrying 787,000 travelers last year. While the passenger count was only 83 percent of the prepandemic high, TIPC said annual foreign arrivals hit the highest on record, with Japan accounting for 13.75 percent of the total, followed by the U.S. at 4.9 percent, South Korea at 2.9 percent and Germany at 2.8 percent.
 
TIPC said Keelung has received applications for 472 cruise calls so far this year, with the total passenger number set to increase by 9.5 percent to 861,000. The company is working closely with the Tourism Administration and municipal governments of Keelung, Taipei and New Taipei Cities to roll out tourism promotion campaigns, projects upgrading port facilities and other incentives so that more international travelers will visit Taiwan ports, it added.
 
In particular, TIPC is bullish about the South Korea market, as the East Asian country is geographically close to Taiwan and the two share similar economic developments. The corporation has been in contact with a major South Korean travel agency and looks forward to expanding cruise tourism between the two sides, it added. 


Source:  Taiwan Today (https://taiwantoday.tw/index.php)