Taipei - Taiwan will launch the "One Dollar First Night" campaign to lure transfer air passengers to spend at least one night in Taipei, an official said Monday.

The Tourism Bureau said it will launch the promotion campaign in May because each year 2 million foreigners pass through Taiwan airports without visiting the island.

"To lure them to stay at least one night in Taipei, we will invite foreign transfer passengers to spend one night in a five-star hotel in Taipei," Wayne Liu, head of the bureau's International Affairs Division, said by phone.

"Originally we called it 'One Dollar First Night' campaign, but European airlines and travel agents wanted us to call it 'One Euro First Night' when we advise it in Europe, so the campaign is called both 'One Dollar First Night' and "One Euro First Night'," he said.

In the first year, the promotion campaign targets 6,000 visitors divided equally between North America and Europe.

Liu said the main purpose was to get transfer passengers interested in Taiwan so that they might visit in the future.

In 2008, Taiwan received 3.84 million foreign visitors, falling short of its goal of 4 million.

On Saturday, Vice President Vincent Siew said Taiwan should learn from France and Spain, which receive 70 million and 65 million foreign tourists each year respectively, and make long-term strategies to promote tourism.

Taiwan can also learn from Thailand and develop "medical tourism" to lure foreigners to come to Taiwan for sightseeing and medical checkup, he said. (dpa)