TAIPEI – Taiwan will reopen its borders to individual travellers from Hong Kong and Macau from next week as part of efforts to revive the tourism industry after the Covid-19 pandemic.

Hong Kong and Macau residents will be allowed to apply for visitor visas from Feb 20 as the government scraps entry restrictions imposed due to Covid-19, according to a statement from Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council on Tuesday.

“We apologise to many Hong Kong friends for not being able to celebrate Valentine’s Day in Taiwan,” Mainland Affairs Council Deputy Minister Liang Wen-chieh said at a briefing in Taipei.

“We have worked on easing the rules for Hong Kong residents for a long time, but the decision was delayed due to rising uncertainty surrounding Covid after China’s unexpected decision to open up.”

However, the restrictions on visitors from mainland China will remain in place as the Covid-19 situation there is still unclear, Mr Liang said. 

Even if Taiwan opened up to Chinese visitors, it would be of little use as the government in Beijing still effectively bars its citizens from travelling to the island for tourism. In January, China left Taiwan off a list of 20 permitted destinations Chinese tour groups can travel to. Beijing is also yet to lift a ban it placed on individual tourists travelling to Taiwan in 2019.

Before Covid-19, China, Hong Kong and Macau were among the largest sources of tourists to the island. Taiwan aims to attract six million tourists this year, including one million from China, Central News Agency reported earlier, citing Transportation Minister Wang Kwo-tsai. BLOOMBERG