Taiwan's is the fastest growing international tourism industry, while Asian destinations in general are leading the way in drawing more visitor numbers, according to a recent report by the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO).

In the past year, Taiwan has seen an increase of 26.7 per cent in visitor numbers, trumping its Asian neighbours Japan (26.4 per cent), South Korea (18.5 per cent), Vietnam (15.6 per cent) and Hong Kong (10.5 per cent), which made up the top five countries for inbound tourism growth worldwide.

“We are extremely pleased by the impressive statistics, which show the government’s wide-ranging marketing campaign targeting key markets worldwide has paid handsome dividends,” said Liu Hsi-lin, deputy director-general of the Tourism Bureau under the Ministry of Transportation and Communications.

Liu credited joint promotional efforts by Asian countries as the reason for recent successes, as well as Taiwan’s single strategy to develop tourism focused on the cultural and creative industry.

Overall, Taiwan’s revenue growth ranked third globally during the period at 18.5 per cent, following Japan at 27.5 per cent and South Korea at 25.2 per cent, while Liu credited the improving travel infrastructure around Asia as a key factor in driving the continent’s rapid expansion.

According to the UNWTO report, the total global international tourist arrivals saw an increase of 4.6 per cent year-on-year to reach 517 million in the first half of 2014.