Taipei: Total visitors to Taiwan in the first half of 2025 amounted to 4,197,240, a 10 percent increase from the same period in 2024, the Tourism Administration announced on Wednesday.

According to Focus Taiwan, Japanese visitors accounted for 680,299 people, or 16.21 percent of all visitors, followed by 612,942 (14.6 percent) from Hong Kong and Macau, 531,377 (12.66 percent) from South Korea, 359,777 (8.57 percent) from the United States, 312,821 (7.45 percent) from the Philippines and 310,327 (7.39 percent) from China, based on administration data.

Visitors in June totaled 606,346 people, a 6.1 percent increase from the previous year. Japanese visitors in June rose by 21.85 percent year on year, while Chinese visitors rose by 48.97 percent.

The administration said the Mini Three Links connecting China with Taiwan’s outlying islands of Kinmen and Matsu brought in Chinese travelers.

The administration also noted that visitors from Hong Kong and Macau fell by 7.41 percent in June, while those from South Korea dropped by 7.46 percent. It attributed the declines to a “prediction” about a disastrous earthquake to hit Japan in July, as well as political unrest and elections in South Korea.

The agency said visitor growth is consistent with previous months and that it will hold overseas campaigns to boost visitor numbers in the fourth season, which is the peak season for travelers to visit Taiwan.

Also between January and June 2025, 9,141,262 Taiwanese individuals traveled abroad, marking a 10.56 percent increase from the previous year, the data showed. Of these travelers, 3,272,961 (35.8 percent) traveled to Japan, 1,520,346 (16.63 percent) traveled to China and 832,962 (9.11 percent) traveled to South Korea.