People walk around Oriental Pearl Tower in Shanghai on Jan. 16.Photo: EPA-EFE / Staff writer, with CNA There has been a significant generational difference in those who travel to China among Taiwanese over the past 16 years, with younger travelers less likely to visit the country, a breakdown of national travel statistics showed.
Since direct aviation links were opened across the Taiwan Strait in 2008, Taiwanese visited China 38.15 million times as of the end of last year, making it the second-most popular outbound destination for locals after Japan (39.55 million visits), the Tourism Administration said.
People aged 50 to 59 visited China the most, with 9.42 million visits, followed by people aged 40 to 49 with 9.35 million visits.
On the other hand, younger travelers, aged 20 to 29, accounted for 2.9 million visits. By comparison, people aged 20 to 29 visited Japan 6.
55 million times during the same period, or 125 percent more than the visits to China, statistics showed. High Quality of Travel Association public relations representative Ringo Lee (李奇嶽) said he observed that older generations are more likely to visit China for leisure travel compared with younger Taiwanese. Part of the reason was the nature of Chinese travel, which emphasizes scenic beauty and history, he said.
“[Younger people] prefer lively, popular, glamorous and shopping-oriented experiences, enjoying food and buying things. They don’t visit temples,” he said. Young people might think traveli.