Taiwan has opened its first tourism information center (TTIC) in the Philippines, providing Filipinos up-to-date and easy-to-access travel advice and information about the island.

The center, located at 100 West Makati, will be managed by the Taiwan Tourism Administration’s (TTA) Bangkok office.

“With this establishment, we have a real center which can become a platform introducing Filipino friends to develop their own tourism program in Taiwan,” said Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (TECO) Wallace Min-Gan Chow during the inauguration on Friday.

“Through this center, I think our Filipino friends will have a better understanding of Taiwan’s culture and gastronomy,” he added.

The opening of TTIC, he said, is a “very important milestone” for Taiwan and the Philippines, especially as Taipei regards the latter as one of its most important markets in Southeast Asia.

In the first 10 months of the year, Filipinos traveling to Taiwan have already reached 370,000, surpassing the 350,000 arrivals for the entire 2023.

“I think (this center) is going to be a big boost— I would expect very soon, we will have more than 500,000 Filipinos visiting Taiwan in the future,” said Chow.

Under a special scheme, Filipino tourists are allowed to enter Taiwan without visa for 14 days from Aug. 1 to July 31, 2025.

Chow, for his part, expressed optimism that the upward trajectory in the number of Filipinos visiting the island would be taken into consideration for this policy’s future extension.

“We have to do the overall assessment, but I’m pretty optimistic, because with the increase in tourist number from the Philippines to Taiwan, Philippines has become the biggest source of international visitors from Southeast Asian countries,” he told reporters.

Travel incentives

TTA Bangkok Office Director for the Philippines Cindy Chen said Taiwan is open to partnering with local tourism stakeholders as well create special offers for Filipinos traveling to Taiwan for leisure.

“Now that we already opened the TTIC, we will use it as a hub and have more interaction with local travel partners— We will work together with them to organize, for example, agent trips to Taiwan to help them better understand Taiwan tourism,” Chen said.

For group tours, Taiwan offers a free entrance ticket for Taipei 101 Observatory Deck. Taiwan also has the ongoing Lucky Land Raffle campaign, where travelers can win NTD5,000 or approximately PHP9,000 that they can use for shopping, accommodation, or transportation across the island.

The Lucky Land Raffle is open for travelers who registered for the draw one to seven days before their scheduled arrival date in Taiwan. (PNA)