This year’s Taiwan International Balloon Festival attracted a record number of visitors to Taitung County, officials and hoteliers said on Tuesday.
The month-long hot air balloon extravaganza, which ended on Monday, attracted an estimated 900,000 visitors — nearly double last year’s 480,000 — and generated NT$2 billion (US$64.81 million) in revenue for the region, the Taitung Tourism Department said.
A decision to extend the festival another week did not dampen enthusiasm for the event, department Deputy Director Wang Kuo-cheng (王國政) said.
Photo: Wang Hsiu-ting, Taipei Times
Running buses to Luye Plateau (鹿野高台) every evening from Aug. 3 — instead of just for light shows on the festival’s opening and closing days — effectively alleviated traffic, he said.
The record-setting tourist volume taxed the local road network and parking availability, while the scheduling of ballooning in the early morning and evening led some tourists to stay in Hualien County, rather than in Taitung, he added.
For next year’s festival, the agency aims to improve transportation and parking options and to structure events in a way that helps keep tourists in the county, Wang said.
During past festivals, attendees tended to travel on Saturdays and Sundays, but this year’s event caused traffic congestion on roads leading to the plateau throughout the week, Taitung Tourism Association head Pan Kuei-lan (潘貴蘭) said.
Hotels reported occupancy rates of 80 percent in Taitung City and 90 percent in Luye Township (鹿野), she said, adding that post-festival occupancy rates of 65 to 70 percent were still higher than normal.
This year’s festival boasted the greatest number of designer balloons in the event’s history and featured two extra light and music shows.
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