The government is stepping up its campaign to attract foreign visitors to Taiwan in the wake of the massive 921 earthquake, a tourism official announced yesterday.
Hsu Wen-sheng (
Hsu said that due to widespread reports by the international media on the earthquake that devastated parts of central Taiwan, foreign tourists are under the mistaken impression that the entire island is a quake-stricken area.
They are staying away, casting a pall over the usually booming tourism business which has seen hotel occupancy rates plunge by an average of 60 percent, he said.
The number of Taiwanese people scheduled to go abroad or travel around the island has also dropped by 50 percent and 70 percent, respectively, according to Hsu.
The tourism bureau has initially estimated that as of November, international hotels had lost NT$1.06 billion in room and restaurant revenue, while smaller hotels had lost about NT$600 million in canceled bookings, he said.
Private resorts had lost about NT$1.21 billion, travel agencies had lost about NT$2.54 million, while 210,000 international airline seats had been canceled as of December, he said.
Total losses incurred by the tourism industry have been estimated at NT$30 billion, bureau officials added.
Hsu said that in order to help revive tourism, the government has provided low-interest loans to tourism operators, and is stepping up an international campaign to attract more foreign visitors.
The government has also planned trips on the theme of lessons to be learned from the earthquake, and has worked out four routes with local travel agencies.
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