Taipei - The number of foreigners visiting Taiwan fell more than 5 per cent in January and February, but the number of Chinese tourists surged more than 100 per cent, the Tourism Bureau said Tuesday.

In the first two months of the year, 580,196 foreigners as well as people from China, Hong Kong and Macau visited Taiwan, down 5.29 per cent from the same period a year earlier, the bureau said.

Two-thirds of those visitors were tourists while one-third were business travellers.

The bureau said that while the number of visitors from Europe, the United States and Japan fell, tourists from Hong Kong and Macau rose 27 per cent and tourists from China soared 107 per cent year-on-year.

The jump from China came after Taiwan launched daily charter flights with China in December and this month began allowing foreign cruise ships to bring in Chinese tour groups on a case-by-case basis.

In 2008, Taiwan received 3.84 million foreign visitors, falling short of its goal of 4 million, so the island has set 4 million as its target for 2009. (dpa)