TAIPEI (Kyodo) China displaced Japan as the largest of source of visitors to Taiwan in 2010, with the number of travelers from the country rising 68 percent from the previous year to 1,630,735, according to government data released Tuesday.
Japanese travelers to Taiwan totaled 1,080,153 in 2010, the Taiwanese Ministry of Transportation and Communications said.
The number of Chinese visitors to Taiwan for both tourism and business purposes has risen dramatically since the ban on visitors from China was partially lifted in July 2008 after improvement in bilateral ties.
In 2009, the number of Chinese visitors to Taiwan shot up to 970,000, three times the figure the previous year.