Central Taiwan tourism industry facing tough times

In the space of a few minutes, the earthquake on Sept. 21 leveled many of Taiwan's most popular tourist sites dealing what officials claimed was an "incalculable blow" to the region's tourism industry.

Chen Shi-yuan (陳溪園), secretary-general of the tourism bureau under the Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC), said that because local governments are preoccupied mainly with relief work it is still difficult to estimate total losses to the island's tourism industry. But Chen said tourism agencies have reported that as many as 80 percent of foreign tour groups have canceled trips to Taiwan.

Chen said luring foreign tourists back to Taiwan will need to be a priority along with rebuilding tourism infrastructure in areas heavily affected by the quake. The Executive Yuan is currently reviewing a reconstruction plan which emphasizes the revitalization of the tourism industry.

"The key thing to make public is that besides the massive destruction in areas near the epicenter, scenic sites in other areas remain intact," he said.

"As long as tourists come, what follows will be fountainheads of money," he added.

But officials and tourist site operators from disaster areas disagreed. They said tourists are unlikely to return until repair work on roads, hotels and other public facilities is complete.

Wang Ya-nan (王亞男), director of a National Taiwan University experimental forest in Nantou, which includes the Shitou Forest Recreation Area, said nobody would return there before all facilities were restored.

"Repairing hotels alone simply won't work," she added.

Nantou County officials said a lack of financial and other resources for local governments would complicate a recovery of the local tourism industry.

Michel Yang (楊樹煌), director of a preparatory task force for Nantou County's new bureau of tourism to be set up at the end of November, cited the case of Sun Moon Lake. He said the resort area, previously defined as a provincial-level scenic area, was limited to an annual budget of about NT$10 million per year. He said such budget constraints made facility maintenance an onerous task which precluded undertaking enhancement work.

Officials said on Oct. 3 that the central and Nantou County governments decided last week to upgrade the Sun Moon Lake resort area to a national-level scenic area. Despite the change, Yang said, the county's tourism industry wouldn't see major improvements until the central government is willing to release more resources to the local government.

"A redistribution of budgets, as well as rights and obligations between local and central governments regarding management of scenic sites will be critical to the restoration of the tourism industry in Nantou," Yang said.