TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — As government officials predicted, Taiwan’s 6 millionth visitor for 2023 arrived in the country Friday (Dec. 15).

The traveler, a man from Singapore named in Mandarin as Chen (陳), was welcomed at Taoyuan International Airport by government members including Vice Premier Cheng Wen-tsan (鄭文燦) and Transportation Minister Wang Kwo-tsai (王國材), per CNA.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the country registered about 11 million visitors per year. Over the past year, 1.14 million visitors arrived from Hong Kong and Macau, 850,000 from Japan, and 690,000 from South Korea, Wang said.

The next target for the country’s tourism sector is doubling the number of visitors to 12 million for 2024. While the government is already laying the groundwork to allow Taiwanese tour groups to start traveling to China in March, Cheng said he hoped that Beijing would also let Chinese groups travel to Taiwan.