Greater efforts must be made to appeal to more Western, Japanese and Taiwanese tourists to revive the nation’s waning tourism business, the travel industry said after the number of Chinese tourists visiting Taiwan was found to be much lower than expected.
Statistics from the Sun Moon Lake National Scenic Area Administration Tourism Bureau showed that this summer Sun Moon Lake (日月潭) — one of the most popular tourist destinations in Taiwan — received only 290,000 visitors, or 60,000 less than last summer.
Meanwhile, statistics from the Forestry Bureau showed that 111,300 people had visited Alishan (阿里山) in June and July, 400 more than the number for the same period last year.
While the number of visitors to Alishan held steady, there were no signs of improvement anytime soon, the travel industry said.
Shop owners and hoteliers at both locations said that allowing a greater number of Chinese tourists to come to Taiwan had not resulted in the stellar business opportunities and revenues the government had promised, adding that only one or two travel agencies were willing to collaborate with local hotels on the condition that management agree to slash prices well below par.
For example, Sun Moon Lake’s Eihan Resort began work last year to expand its number of rooms from 66 to 101.
The hotel saw a 60 percent increase in its occupancy rate after the renovations.
The hotel manager, however, said the hotel had had to cut its room rate from NT$4,000 to NT$2,500 to be allowed to deal with travel agencies.
Because of the drop in tourists, the occupancy rate at Hotel Del Lago in June and July fell from 53 percent to 51 percent compared with the same period last year.
The Lalu, the lake’s best-known high-end luxury hotel, reported an occupancy rate between 80 percent and 90 percent, but less than 10 percent were Chinese tourists.
Chen Cheng-hsing (陳正興), the manager of Alisan House, said that most Chinese tourists only had meals at the hotel and did not stay overnight.
His competitor, Liao Ching-tai (廖景泰) of Wenshan Hotel, agreed, saying that most of his overnight guests were local tourists or visitors from Japan and Southeast Asia.
Also See: County official says Beijing to blame for low tourist numbers
China has reserved offshore airspace in the Yellow Sea and East China Sea from March 27 to May 6, issuing alerts usually used to warn of military exercises, although no such exercises have been announced, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported yesterday. Reserving such a large area for 40 days without explanation is an “unusual step,” as military exercises normally only last a few days, the paper said. These alerts, known as Notice to Air Missions (Notams), “are intended to inform pilots and aviation authorities of temporary airspace hazards or restrictions,” the article said. The airspace reserved in the alert is
NAMING SPAT: The foreign ministry called on Denmark to propose an acceptable solution to the erroneous nationality used for Taiwanese on residence permits Taiwan has revoked some privileges for Danish diplomatic staff over a Danish permit that lists “Taiwan” as “China,” Eric Huang (黃鈞耀), head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Department of European Affairs, told a news conference in Taipei yesterday. Reporters asked Huang whether the Danish government had responded to the ministry’s request that it correct the nationality on Danish residence permits of Taiwanese, which has been listed as “China” since 2024. Taiwan’s representative office in Denmark continues to communicate with the Danish government, and the ministry has revoked some privileges previously granted to Danish representatives in Taiwan and would continue to review
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
The first bluefin tuna of the season, brought to shore in Pingtung County and weighing 190kg, was yesterday auctioned for NT$10,600 (US$333.5) per kilogram, setting a record high for the local market. The auction was held at the fish market in Donggang Fishing Harbor, where the Siaoliouciou Island-registered fishing vessel Fu Yu Ching No. 2 delivered the “Pingtung First Tuna” it had caught for bidding. Bidding was intense, and the tuna was ultimately jointly purchased by a local restaurant and a local company for NT$10,600 per kilogram — NT$300 ,more than last year — for a total of NT$2.014 million. The 67-year-old skipper
RSS