RISE IN FITS BENEFITS TAXI INDUSTRY, OTHER VISITOR SITES|去年來台觀光客近8成自由行 4年來新高

The Tourism Bureau announced that almost 80 percent of visitors last year were individual travelers, a four year high. Groups tours accounted for just over 20 percent. For the first time, 50 percent of Chinese visitors were individual travelers. This has fueled the taxi industry by almost 20 percent. A family group from Macau squeezes into a taxi. The taxi is labeled with photos of Yeliu and Jiufen and costs NT$3,500 for a day. Individual travelers to Taiwan take taxis to places they can't reach by MRT. This year, the taxi industry has benefited from the increase in individual travelers coming to Taiwan. ==VISITOR Hong Kong== By taxi, we can go to Danshui and those places. ==TAXI DRIVER== In the north, they visit Yeliu, Jiufen, Shifen and then there's Ilan. ==LAi CHENG-HSIANG Manager, Taiwan Taxi == We have found that in July this year, the peak season our business volume is up by 15 to 20 percent. So the number of foreign visitors coming to Taiwan as individual travelers is much more than before. The Tourism Bureau said that the ratio of individual travelers and groups coming to Taiwan used to be 70 to 30 percent but that from last year, FIT was at 76 percent, close to 80 percent, a new four year high. Last year most Chinese visitors came in groups, but still, the number of Chinese FITs surpassed that of groups, at over 50 percent. ==VISITOR China== Coming with a group is more tiring as there is a time limit and you have to go with a coach and there are more people. ==VOICE: WI JIE-PING Head, Planning Dept. Tourism Bureau == Chinese group visitors are all basically on coaches and the whole group travels together if you want to stay a little longer somewhere you don't have the opportunity. Individual travelers are more welcome than groups and the popular sites are different. Kaohsiung's Pier Two Art Center area is popular with Hong Kong visitors. ==VISITOR Hong Kong == Technology is so developed now we can find what we want online and see a lot of other visitor sites. In contrast, the number of visitors to Kaohsiung's other sites, like the Buddha Museum, have dropped off and coaches parked on Xiziwan Road are empty. With internet access and transparent travel information the places which visitors are coming to in Taiwan have changed. TRANSLATED BY：CLARE LEAR 觀光局公布去年來台觀光客,近八成是自由行，創近四年新高，團體客只剩兩成多。過去以團體旅遊為主的陸客，也出現「黃金交叉」，陸客自由行的比例首度衝破五成。自由行也造福計程車業，暑期包車旅遊業績增加近兩成。 來自澳門的自由行旅客，大人、小孩通通擠進一輛小黃包車旅遊。小黃外觀印上野柳、九份的照片，一天八小時收取3500元，來台灣自由行，捷運難到達的地方，由小黃來帶路。近年來台觀光自由行興起，計程車業者，感受很明顯。 ==港客== 計程車的話 我會去淡水那邊逛 ==計程車駕駛== 北部就是以野柳 九份 十分為主 然後還有宜蘭的線 ==台灣大車隊協理 賴正翔== 那我們也觀察到 在今年暑假七月以後 七月這個高峰期 其實我們業績有成長15%到20% 所以說顯示外國觀光客 如果是自己來 自由行來台灣的話 其實數量真的是比以前多很多 觀光局指出，來台觀光的散客和團客，往年維持在七比三左右，但到了去年，自由行散客來到76%，逼近八成，創近四年來新高。至於陸客方面，過去都以跟團體為大宗，但是去年，自由行比例超越團客，首度衝破五成，呈現「黃金交叉」。 ==陸客== 跟團的話路線比較死板 可能時間上有一個限制 而且他就是要跟車走 人又比較多 == 觀光局企劃組長 吳潔萍== 如果你是團客的話 基本上你是要有遊覽車 整團一起走 你想要在某處多待一會兒 還都不行 自由行比跟團體受歡迎，旅遊景點也跟著大洗牌，像是在高雄的駁二特區，就吸引不少港客前往。 ==港客== 因為現在科技很發達 我們可以在網上找到 很多不同的旅遊景點 反觀陸客團人數大減，高雄佛陀紀念館，遊覽車停車場空蕩蕩，西子灣路邊停靠的遊覽車，則變得零零星星。網路發達、旅遊資訊透明，來台旅遊的模式，正逐漸出現改變。 記者 許政俊 黃怡菁 張國樑