Visitors to Taroko National Park last month dropped by more than half compared with the same period last year following the earthquake that struck Hualien on Feb. 6.
There were about 440,000 visitors to the park in February last year, but last month, it only saw about 185,000 visitors, park administration chief Yang Mo-lin (楊模麟) said.
Baiyang Trail and other trails are to reopen soon, and the park plans to arrange various events and guided tours in a bid to encourage more people to visit and boost tourism in the county, Yang said.
“Business is indeed down after the earthquake. It is just terrible,” Taroko Village Hotel proprietor Cheng Ming-kang (鄭明岡) said.
Like many hoteliers, Cheng has been focusing on attracting domestic travelers after the decrease in Chinese tourist numbers.
Despite offering various package deals, 80 percent of reservations at the hotel were canceled after the quake, Cheng said.
“You will not see crowds in Hualien Train Station, downtown areas or scenic attractions like Taroko National Park,” he said.
Many hotel operators are pinning their hopes on the Taiwan Railways Administration’s tourism train service, Cheng said, although only 48 tourists used the service when it was launched on March 1, earlier than scheduled.
The Tourism Bureau is offering a temporary program to subsidize travel costs to Hualien for up to NT$500 per person if three or more people spend more than two nights in the city, Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) said.
Hualien County Hotel Association chairman Chen Yi-feng (陳義豐) said he hopes that the government, businesses and people would show their love for Hualien and consider holding training events, exhibitions and tours in the county.
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-wong effective from 5:30pm, while local governments canceled school and work for tomorrow. A land warning is expected to be issued tomorrow morning before it is expected to make landfall on Wednesday, the agency said. Taoyuan, and well as Yilan, Hualien and Penghu counties canceled work and school for tomorrow, as well as mountainous district of Taipei and New Taipei City. For updated information on closures, please visit the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration Web site. As of 5pm today, Fung-wong was about 490km south-southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan's southernmost point.
Almost a quarter of volunteer soldiers who signed up from 2021 to last year have sought early discharge, the Legislative Yuan’s Budget Center said in a report. The report said that 12,884 of 52,674 people who volunteered in the period had sought an early exit from the military, returning NT$895.96 million (US$28.86 million) to the government. In 2021, there was a 105.34 percent rise in the volunteer recruitment rate, but the number has steadily declined since then, missing recruitment targets, the Chinese-language United Daily News said, citing the report. In 2021, only 521 volunteers dropped out of the military, the report said, citing
A magnitude 5.3 earthquake struck Kaohsiung at 1pm today, the Central Weather Administration said. The epicenter was in Jiasian District (甲仙), 72.1km north-northeast of Kaohsiung City Hall, at a depth of 7.8km, agency data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effects of a temblor, was highest in Kaohsiung and Tainan, where it measured a 4 on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale. It also measured a 3 in parts of Chiayi City, as well as Pingtung, Yunlin and Hualien counties, data showed.
Nearly 5 million people have signed up to receive the government’s NT$10,000 (US$322) universal cash handout since registration opened on Wednesday last week, with deposits expected to begin tomorrow, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. After a staggered sign-up last week — based on the final digit of the applicant’s national ID or Alien Resident Certificate number — online registration is open to all eligible Taiwanese nationals, foreign permanent residents and spouses of Taiwanese nationals. Banks are expected to start issuing deposits from 6pm today, the ministry said. Those who completed registration by yesterday are expected to receive their NT$10,000 tomorrow, National Treasury
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