‍A total of 2.54 million people visited Taiwan from January to March this year, 9.99 percent lower than the same period last year, data from the island's transport bureau revealed on Tuesday.

Of the 2.54 million visitors, about 667,000 were tourists, a fall of over 15 percent on the same period last year. 

A total of 659,575 visitors came from the Chinese mainland, a drop of 42 percent from the same period last year. Visitors from Hong Kong and Macao also fell 25 percent to 342,270 while the number of Japanese visitors dropped by 0.11 percent.

Taiwan's visitor arrivals surpassed 10 million for the first time in 2015, due to a continued rise in the number of Chinese mainland visitors since the island opened up to mainland travelers in 2008. The number of Chinese mainland tourists to Taiwan slipped 14.4 percent to 3.61 million in 2016, which led to the first annual drop in eight years, according to Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council statistics.