The number of visitors to national parks in the first eight months of the year has fallen nearly 20 percent, except at Taijiang National Park in Tainan, which recorded an increase, Ministry of the Interior data showed.
From January to August, 11,921,955 people visited the nine national parks, down 19.95 percent compared with the same period last year, ministry data showed.
The number of visitors to Kinmen National Park declined the most, falling by 50.44 percent, followed by a 47.85 percent drop at Dongsha Atoll National Park and a 46.59 percent decrease at Kenting National Park, the data showed.
Photo: Tsai Wen-chu, Taipei Times
The overall decrease could be attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic, as the data showed that more than 1.58 million people visited national parks in January, 200,000 more than in the same month last year, the ministry said.
After the disease broke out in February, the number of visitors started to plunge, with April and May recording only half of last year’s level for the same period, the data showed.
Visitor numbers started to go back up in June, as the nation’s disease situation stabilized, with 200,000 more people visiting parks in August than in the same month last year, showing that confidence in domestic travel had returned, the data showed.
However, Taijiang National Park, Yushan National Park and South Penghu Marine National Park appeared to be unaffected by the effects of the pandemic and saw a growing number of visitors.
Taijiang National Park recorded 977,602 visitors in the first eight months of the year, a 164.74 percent increase over the same period last year, with the number of visitors in each of the months higher than those of last year, ministry data showed.
Meanwhile, the numbers of visitors to South Penghu Marine National Park and Yushan National Park increased by 39.57 percent and 37.01 percent respectively, the data showed.
The rise in visitors to Taijiang might have been due to the exotic design of its new visitors’ center, which has attracted many people to share photographs of it on social media after its inauguration last year, Construction and Planning Agency section head Chang Wei-chuan (張維銓) said yesterday.
Yushan National Park also recorded more visitors after a section of road from the Southern Cross-Island Highway to Tianchi (天池) reopened in January following decade-long repairs from damage caused by Typhoon Morakot, Chang said.
Due to limited transportation options and colder weather, visitors to South Penghu Marine National Park were initially fewer than other locations on Taiwan proper, he said.
However, with overseas travel restricted, more people opted to visit Penghu to “pretend to go abroad,” he added.
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