TAIPEI: Leofoo Development Corp, Taiwan's largest theme-park operator, led the island's tourism stocks higher as the government expects the number of mainland visitors to rise 11 percent next year.

Leofoo jumped 6.6 percent to NT$17.70 as of 1:11 pm, the most since August 28, while Formosa International Hotels Corp gained 3.5 percent to NT$417. The seven-member tourism index surged 3.3 percent, the most among the 28 industry groups on the Taiwan benchmark index.

More mainland tourists coming to Taiwan is good news, said Sam Hsieh, a Taipei-based fund manager at Fuh Hwa Investment Trust Co, which helps oversee the equivalent of $4.8 billion. "Investors generally see tourism shares as a long-term investment and such news boosted their confidence," he explained.

Taiwan expects 900,000 visitors from the mainland this year, up from an earlier estimate of 800,000, said Wayne Liu, director of international affairs division at the Taiwan tourism bureau. Taipei also forecasts 1 million visitors from the mainland next year, Liu said in a telephone interview yesterday.

Taiwan had 687,851 visitors from the mainland in the first nine months of the year, Liu said. Taiwan and the mainland may set up tourism exchange offices in Beijing and Taipei before the Spring Festival, the China Daily reported, citing the Cross-Straits Tourism Exchange Association on the mainland.

"The shares are rising because of the positive news," said Sidney Yeh, an analyst at Credit Suisse AG.

Closer ties with the mainland, Taiwan's biggest trading partner, may help Taiwan leader Ma Ying Jeou speed the economic recovery from the first recession since the technology bubble burst in 2001.

Bloomberg News

(HK Edition 10/23/2009 page2)