Taiwan reopens to tourists after scrapping COVID rules | Tourism News

Self-ruled island allows visitors quarantine-free entry for first time in more than two and a half years.

Taiwan has reopened to tourists en masse after lifting some of the world’s longest-lasting pandemic border controls.

Visitors began arriving on the island on Thursday without the need for quarantine or PCR tests for the first time in more than two and a half years.

Taiwanese officials welcomed the first group of visitors arriving on a flight from Bangkok shortly after midnight at the island’s main international airport near Taipei.

Tourism Bureau Director-General Chang Shi-chung told reporters the island’s reopening was a chance to “bring back to life and rebuild cross-border tourism”.

Taiwan is the last major economy to lift COVID-19 quarantine apart from mainland China, which has stuck to an ultra-strict “zero COVID” policy despite the global trend towards living…