In order to promote the government's new southbound policy, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Taiwan announced on July 2 that since August 01, 2018, the visa-free trials for Thailand, Brunei, the Philippines and Russian nationals will be extended until July 31 next year (2020) to attract more international travelers to Taiwan and expand exchanges between the people.
On May 24, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs invited the national security, immigration, police, investigation, tourism and economics and trade to hold an inter-ministerial meeting to jointly study and adjust Taiwan visa treatment for the target countries of the "new southbound policy" and Russia.
Since 2016, Taiwan has successively granted visa-friendly treatment to the target countries of the “New Southbound Policy”. Since its implementation, the number of travelers from new southbound nationals has grown steadily. In 2018, the number of travelers to Taiwan has reached a new record, reaching more than 2,600,000, an increase of 310,000 compared with 2,200,000 in 2017 and the growth rate is 13.61%. This policy is indeed helpful for improving the number of tourists coming to Taiwan.
On the other hand, Taiwan and Russia restarted direct flights on May 24 this year (2019) and extended the trial visa to Russia. It is expected to play a multiplier effect, attract more Russian tourists to visit Taiwan, and expand the interaction and exchanges between the two peoples.
