TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – The number of foreign visitors in Taiwan could break last year’s record of 11.06 million and reach 11.79 million by the end of 2019, reports said Wednesday (Dec. 11).

The expected rise comes despite China's politically motivated ban on individual travelers to the island beginning August 1.

According to the tourism bureau, the number of foreign arrivals reached 10.71 million at the end of November, and last year’s total of 11.06 million could be matched any day now, CNA reported.

Providence University tourism teacher Huang Jeng-tsung (黃正聰) said the number of tourists from outside China rose by 16 percent in October and by 10 percent in November, adding that Taiwan could see an additional jump of 10 percent growth in December.

The number of Chinese visiting Taiwan in December is likely to fall by 140,000, but the number of non-Chinese tourists could rise by 90,000, making for a total of 1,075,000 tourists in the final month of the year, or 34,677 per day, Huang said.

The Tourism Bureau’s official target for 2019 was 11.28 million foreign arrivals, but Huang emphasized the high likelihood that the number could be even higher, according to CNA.