Get paid to visit Taiwan

Most of the time when I’m picking a vacation spot, I’m drawn by affordability, beauty, and weather, but Taiwan is offering up a new incentive: paying tourists to visit. 

The island plans to draw tourists to its shores by offering 500,000 individual tourists NT $5,000, which is about $166. They will also offer NT $20,000, or about $667 to 90,000 tour groups. Tourists will be given the money upon arrival and can then use it to cover any expenses while visiting, including food or accommodation. 

When will the money be given out?

It’s still unclear as to how tourists can apply for the money or how the funds will be issued, but Taiwan’s Tourism Bureau Director, General Chang Shi-Chung clarified that “The money will be given out through multiple tourism promotion events this year, rather than giving it all out at once.” 

Why is Taiwan trying this approach?

Taiwan hopes to have 6 million tourists visit in 2023 and 10 million tourists by 2025. Taiwanese officials hope that they can bring the number of tourists back up to pre-pandemic levels. In 2022, the East Asian island had under 900,000 people visit while in 2019 it had 11.8 million. 

Has this been done before?

Taiwan is not the first country to incentivize tourists in this way. Malta and Italy have offered to cover hotel and train fares for visitors while other destinations even pay people to move to their countries. 

Though Taiwan’s $166 allotment isn’t a lot of money in the grand scheme of things, that can cover a very nice hotel or a good chunk of food, making it all the more enticing to explore the iconic island.