Previous studies have argued that tourism policy has a long‐term positive relationship with tourism development. This study explored temporal trends in and seasonal effects of the number of tourists traveling to Taiwan between 2001 and 2016, and compared the effects of adjustments in tourism policy on tourism development to determine whether Taiwan's international tourism policies have had long‐term effects on tourism development. Temporal trends and seasonal factors were not significantly related to adjustments in tourism policy but there was a relationship between the economic status of tourist exporters and Taiwan's tourist development.