Taiwan's current economic slowdown has taken its toll on the tourism industry in Hawaii, sources in the travel industry said Tuesday.
Lu Wei-teng (路惟登), president of the Taiwan Chamber of Commerce (台灣商會) in Hawaii, said that 20 percent of ethnic Chinese in Hawaii operate tourism-related services.
"Taiwan's economic woes have seriously affected their business revenues, particularly after two major Taiwan carriers suspended their direct Taiwan-Hawaii flight services," Lu said.
With the Taiwan economy losing steam, Lu said, the number of relatively expensive US-bound tour groups from Taiwan has declined steadily since the second half of last year.
As a result, Taiwan's EVA Airways Corp (長榮航空) took the lead in grounding its direct Taiwan-Hawaii flights early this year, and another Taiwan carrier, China Airlines (華航), followed suit May 1.
Since then, Lu said, the number of Taiwan tour groups to Hawaii has dropped by more than 60 percent.
"In the past, Taiwan tourists could be prominently seen at major Hawaii tourist destinations. But now Taiwan tourists are a `rare species' in Hawaii. This trend has become ever more evident since China Airlines suspended its direct flight services," Lu noted.
According to Lu, Hawaii tour guides specializing in serving Taiwan tourists could serve an average of four Taiwan tour groups per month in the past. But now the number has fallen to less than two. Meanwhile, he said, the business turnover of such peripheral services as restaurants and gift shops has also plunged significantly
"And most depressing of all is that no end to the current plight is in sight," Lu said, adding that some Hawaii tourist services operators have switched their focus to attracting holidaymakers from China and the US mainland.
Travel sources said the number of Taiwan tour groups bound for the US mainland has also dropped substantially.
The number of Taiwan students who have registered to attend short-term classes in the US during summer vacation this year has declined 60 percent from the year-earlier level.
A local travel agent, who preferred to remain anonymous, said he helped arrange for 1,200 Taiwan students to attend summer classes in the US in 1999. "The number fell to 1,000 last year and only 400 have registered for relevant study programs so far this year," he added.
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