To ease overcrowding at popular scenic spots since the deregulation of Chinese tourism, the Tourism Bureau has raised entrance fees and parking costs to limit visitor numbers, with tour companies reportedly skirting the policy by redirecting tours to free sites.
The number of international visitors to Taiwan exceeded 9 million last year, including more than 3.9 million Chinese, the bureau said.
A typical Chinese group tour visits scenic areas including Sun Moon Lake in Nantou County, Alishan in Chiayi County, Kenting National Park in Pingtung County and Yehliu Geopark in New Taipei City, resulting in overcrowding and traffic jams, the bureau said.
Less popular tourist sites that do not charge admission have seen more Chinese tour groups since the bureau began raising prices, tourism experts said.
However, diverting tourists to those sites — which often lack adequate facilities and infrastructure — not only endangers the visitors themselves, but also inconveniences locals, the experts added.
Surging numbers of Chinese tourists have affected the otherwise tranquil seashores of Shihtiping (石梯坪) in Hualien County, with a local resident surnamed Wang (王) saying that the noise of Chinese tourists climbing seaside rocks for photographs have disturbed locals who fish.
A Chinese tourist who reportedly ignored safety warnings was swept out to sea at Shihtiping, the East Coast National Scenic Area Administration said, adding that it could only repeatedly warn tour companies and guests of hazards.
Monthly visits to Shihtiping and the Tropic of Cancer Marker in Hualien peak at about 230,000 during summer, leading to large amounts of garbage being washed into the sea, officials said.
Soaring tourism overwhelms parking lots and public toilets, with tourists queuing in lines up to 300m long, they added.
The Hengchun Peninsula (恆春半島) in Pingtung County has also been paralyzed by Chinese visitors — who account for more than one-third of guests, the Kenting National Park Administration said.
Scores of tourists have emerged in regions rarely visited by foreigners, including Baisha (白砂), Longpan (龍磐) and the southernmost tip of Taiwan proper, with locals voicing concerns about potential environmental harm.
Visits to Maobitou Park and Oluanpi Lighthouse National Park (鵝鑾鼻燈塔國家公園) in Kenting reached 2.83 million and 1.73 million respectively last year, with the free Maobitou Park becoming the first choice of Chinese tourists, who almost doubled over the past year, overwhelming its carrying capacity, Kenting officials said.
Seaside towns such as Wanlitong (萬里桐) and Houwan (後灣) have increasingly seen the illegal collection of coral, shells and hermit crabs by tourists, Kenting park officials said, adding that misdemeanors, including public defecation, as well as visitors falling into caves, are not uncommon.
Daily visits to Kaohsiung’s Sizihwan Beach (西子灣) have soared to 4,000 following the opening of Chinese tourism, with seaside National Sun Yat-sen University allowing just 35 tour buses into the campus daily, resulting in bus congestion in neighboring areas, affecting residents and Taiwanese tourists, the university said.
Bureau Deputy Director-General Chang Shi-chung (張錫聰) said the bureau would request reinforced safety tutorials by tour guides, and order its local administrators to redouble safety and tourism controls.
The price-hike policy is still being monitored, he said.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
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