Russian tourists visit Taiwan without a visa since September 2018. Reliefs were supposed to end on July 31 of this year. But, the authorities of the island, having fixed the success of the program, decided to extend it for another year - until July 31, 2020. One of the major tour operators already launches its line of tours to Taiwan.
Taiwan extended the visa-free regime for Russian tourists for another year due to the increase in Russian tourist traffic to the island.
As emphasized Taiwan Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the country is gaining popularity among tourists from Russia. According to Taiwanese official statistics, since last September, the flow of Russian travelers to the island has grown by 65%. From September 2018 to May 2019, 11,520 tourists from Russia arrived on the island, while in the same period of 2017–18, there were 6,950 people.
However, Taiwan is only at the beginning of its way to conquer the Russian tourist market. In March 2019, Taiwan has opened its tourist office in Moscow. As the Director of the Taiwan Tourism Office, responsible for the Russian market, noted, the potential of the Russian market for Taiwan is enormous, and Russia is one of the key markets among European destinations.
The factors, that stimulate the demand to Taiwan, are direct flights and visa relief. At the end of May 2019, two Russian airlines: S7 and Royal Flight have launched the direct regular flights from Vladivostok and Moscow to the capital of Taipei Island. But nowadays the flights are designed for an inbound tourist flow to Russia (that is, mainly for tourists from Taiwan itself).
In turn, Philip Obruchev-Mironov, the head of the South-East Asia department of Intourist tour operator, reported that tours to Taiwan will appear in the company's range. By the end of this week the tours will appear in the tour operator’s booking system.
“Yes, the demand is still small, yet the destination is little-known to Russian tourists and needs active PR support, but Taiwan definitely has prospects,” noted Philip Obruchev-Mironov.
