More than 100 new travel agencies entered the domestic tourism market last year in view of potential business opportunities in the post-COVID-19 pandemic era, the Tourism Bureau said yesterday.
The pandemic has severely disrupted the travel industry worldwide, and a significant number of domestic agencies withdrew from the market, it added.
Eighty-two agencies suspended or dismissed operations, the highest in the past three years, the bureau said.
Forty-eight agencies closed, leaving the domestic market to 3,934 operators, the lowest in the past three years, it said, adding that another 125 travel agencies closed branch offices.
However, some saw the disrupted tourism market as an opportunity, the bureau said.
Before the pandemic hit early last year, the bureau had lowered the capital requirement for agencies from NT$3 million to NT$1.2 million (US$105,337 to US$42,135), it said.
The domestic tourism market, which had been in a years-long recession before the pandemic, received a great boost after COVID-19 was largely contained in Taiwan and the nation’s borders remained virtually closed, it said.
Lower capital requirements and the domestic tourism boom have motivated businesses to enter the market, the bureau said.
Most of the new travel agencies were launched independently of existent or former businesses in the industry, as there is overlap in the personnel that manages the companies and their shareholders, it said.
Some of the new business might hope for a prolonged boom in the industry after the pandemic subsides, the bureau said.
Most of the new players are small agencies, run by five or fewer people, it said.
Typical new businesses were bed-and-breakfasts or tour bus operators, and many people who had been employed in the industry before started their own businesses, it said.
Low capital requirements and challenges to recruit employees have also contributed to the trend, the bureau said.
In related news, Taitung County was named by US-based travel giant Expedia as the best domestic tourism destination last year.
The pandemic has contributed to a change in travel, with more people visiting off-the-beaten-track locations, and take road or camping trips, Expedia said.
Statistics from the Taitung’s Tourism Department showed that the number of visitors last year grew 25 percent to 10.33 million.
Aside from being one of the areas in Taiwan without any confirmed COVID-19 cases, many domestic tourists visited to experience Taitung’s “slow lifestyle,” the department said on Thursday last week.
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