Foreign tourists register for prize draw

FEELING LUCKY? Draws are held every Wednesday at noon, and winners would be contacted to complete identity verification within 24 hours of arriving in Taiwan

• By Hollie Younger / Staff writer, with CNA

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A total of 53,304 foreign travelers had registered between Thursday last week and Wednesday to participate in a program for repeat visitors to Taiwan, with plans to bring 10,017 accompanying friends and family members, the Tourism Administration said yesterday.

The Return to Taiwan, Double Your Luck program offers people who register a chance to win NT$5,000 in travel credits, plus NT$3,000 for an accompanying friend or family member.

The program is open to travelers who entered Taiwan on a passport other than a Taiwanese passport between Jan. 1, 2023, and the day before registration.

A poster for the Return to Taiwan, Double Your Luck tourism program is pictured.

Photo courtesy of the Tourism Administration

Accompanying friends and family members are eligible if they have not visited Taiwan during that period.

Travelers planning to visit Taiwan for three to 90 days between Saturday and March 31 next year can register on the designated Web site, 5000.taiwan.net.tw, between seven and 90 days before their planned arrival.

The Web site opened at 10am on Thursday last week.

Draws are to be held every Wednesday at noon, and winners would be notified to complete identity verification within 24 hours of arriving in Taiwan and obtain a QR code to claim their prizes, it said.

Winners can use the spending credit at more than 7,300 7-Eleven stores nationwide to add to an icash2.0, EasyCard or iPass card, it said.

The top nationalities among those who registered over the initial seven-day period were Japanese, Hong Kong and Macau residents, South Koreans, Singaporeans and Filipinos, it said.

From January to last month, tourist arrivals in Taiwan rose to 6.175 million, a 1.93 percent increase from the same period last year, Tourism Administration data showed.

Taiwan welcomed 8.57 million tourists last year, with repeat visitors accounting for 42 percent, agency Director-General Chen Yu-hsiu (陳玉秀) said, adding that the proportion had returned to pre-COVID-19 levels.