The Tourism Bureau estimates that Typhoon Morakot caused approximately NT$10.4 billion (US$315 million) in losses to the nation’s tourism industry.
“The estimates include losses caused by a decrease in the numbers of both overseas and domestic tourists, as well as damage to the nation’s tourist attractions,” said the bureau’s director general Janice Lai (賴瑟珍).
“We issued a press release on Aug. 11, in Chinese, English and Japanese, and sent it to our offices overseas,” she said. “We want to assure our friends in the international community that except for Alishan, which remains inaccessible at this point, a majority of the nation’s tourist attractions are intact.”
The Alishan National Scenic Area Administration has decided to relocate the venue for Aboriginal dance performances from the Alishan National Forest Recreation Area to a location near Wufeng Temple (吳鳳廟), which is in Chiayi’s Jhongpu Township (中埔).
It also plans to repair damaged hiking trails near several towns around Alishan that were only slightly affected by the typhoon, such as Rueili (瑞里) in Chiayi.
The Tourism Bureau will launch a series of promotional events from next month to December aimed at helping small businesses in Alishan.
The Sunrise Concert on Alishan, traditionally held on New Year’s Day, will also be a memorial concert for the victims, Lai said.
“We will also provide updated information on construction work on Highway 18 [to Alishan] on our home page,” she said.
The Directorate General of Highways has estimated that it will take at least two years to completely repair Highways 18 and 21 to allow them to be accessed by large tour buses.
Lai said bureau officials are scheduled to attend travel fairs in Malaysia, Singapore and Japan next month. The bureau will also hold a special event for tourists from Hong Kong to allow about 600 of them to visit tourist attractions in southern Taiwan.
“The bureau will also invite Chinese travel agents to check out well-known tourist attractions like Sun Moon Lake that have not been damaged by the typhoon and scout for non-traditional travel routes for Chinese tourists,” Lai said.
The annual Hot Spring Festival was supposed to be held by Taipei City this year, but Lai said the city voluntarily gave up the opportunity to allow it to be held in Chipen (知本) in Taitung County instead.
According to the Bureau, visits by international tourists have dropped by about 10 percent because of Morakot. The number of Chinese tourists, in particular, has declined from an average of 2,000 per day last month to an average of about 700 this week.
The numbers of domestic tourists has also decreased by 10 percent to 15 percent.
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