More than 70,000 vehicles, or 200,000 visitors, traveled to the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春半島) from Tuesday to Saturday last week, the first five days of the Lunar New Year holiday, police estimates showed.
More than 10,000 vehicles traveled to the peninsula daily during that period, with the number peaking at more than 15,000 on Thursday last week, police said on Tuesday.
The five-day period saw the same number of vehicles traveling on Provincial Highway No. 26 — a major route into Pingtung County’s Hengchun Township (恆春) and Kenting National Park (墾丁國家公園) — as last year’s six-day Lunar New Year holiday that began on Feb. 15, police said.
Photo copied by Tsai Tsung-hsien, Taipei Times
Police estimated that the remaining four days of the nine-day holiday might have increased the total number of vehicles traveling in the region during the period to about 100,000, the highest in three years.
However, that number was still lower than the about 126,000 vehicles that traveled to the peninsula during the Lunar New Year holiday in 2016, which also lasted nine days.
The increase came after years of decline in tourism in the nation’s southernmost region, which some have attributed to an economic slowdown and negative experiences reported by earlier visitors.
Sales doubled from last year, a Kenting Street vendor nicknamed A-Kai (阿凱) said, adding that it has been a long time since they have seen crowds like this year’s.
All of the vendors and shop owners said that they were pleased to see visitors return, adding that local businesses were also careful when dealing with their customers, whom they cherish.
Tourists are no longer clustering around Kenting Street and have instead begun spreading to other parts of the peninsula, such as Checheng (車城), Manjhou (滿州) and Mudan (牡丹) townships, a veteran tour guide nicknamed Yang Yang (洋洋) said.
Everyone now has an opportunity to make money, the vendors said, adding that the trend has also reduced pressure on major attractions.
They said that they believe this would also lead to fewer customer complaints, as well as conflicts between customers and businesses, adding that the revival of tourism in the peninsula is headed in a good direction.
Tourist behavior has changed this year, a homestay operator surnamed Chu (朱) said, adding that crowds have remained at a steady level after the end of the holiday.
Many homestay operators have been able to attract business through to the Taiwan Lantern Festival, which runs from Tuesday next week to March 3 in Pingtung, she said.
Potential guests have been inquiring about accommodations for the four-day national holiday marking the 228 Incident, which begins on Feb. 28, she added.
Meanwhile in Kaohsiung, local authorities said that the Pier-2 Art Center attracted more than 700,000 visitors during the nine-day Lunar New Year holiday.
This year was the third time that the city hosted the “Max, Mix, Match” event at the center, Kaohsiung Bureau of Cultural Affairs Director-General Wang Wen-tsui (王文翠) said.
This year’s event, which ran from Tuesday to Sunday last week, featured more than 100 crafts vendors and more than 50 food vendors, as well as daily electronic music performances, she said.
During the event, some visitors reportedly waited in line more than a half-hour to buy food from popular vendors.
While the “Han wave,” or the surge in support for Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), has attracted visitors from other areas, the unusually long Lunar New Year holiday and warm weather were the main reasons for the increase in tourists, said a tourism industry source, who asked to remain anonymous.
Additional reporting by Ko Yu-hao
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it