TAIPEI - The number of tourists visiting Taiwan in 2012 will surpass seven million, and may rise to 10 million in 2016, deputy leader of Taiwan Wu Den-yih predicted Monday.

At an award ceremony of excellent brands of Taiwan's service and commercial industry for 2012, Wu said after being sworn in as the island's leader, Ma Ying-jeou advocated the development of the tourist industry.

The number of tourists visiting Taiwan has witnessed rapid growth. In 2011, a total of 6.087 million tourists visited Taiwan, added Wu.

He estimated that Taiwan will welcome the seven millionth tourist by mid-December, while more than 10 million tourists will visit the island in 2016.

He called for further improvements in Taiwan's service industry, to attract more tourists and offset the impact of the stagnant global economy.

Taiwan's tourist industry has been heavily boosted by visitors from the mainland. According to data released by Taiwan's tourism authorities last month, 190,000 tourists out of a total of 550,000 in September were from the Chinese mainland, a year-on-year increase of 51.7 percent.