The number of visitors to Hualien County exceeded 10 million last year, despite a decrease in the number of Chinese tourists to the area, statistics released on Monday by the Hualien Tourism Department showed.
Last year, the 12 major tourist attractions in the county saw a combined total of 10.27 million visitors, an increase from 9.55 million visitors in 2016, the department said, adding that this was still a lower number than 2014’s 10.88 million.
Taroko National Park continued to attract the most visitors at 4.65 million, a 2.8 percent increase from 4.52 million in 2016, the department added.
Photo: Hua Meng-ching, Taipei Times
Coming in second was Cisingtan (七星潭), which attracted 1.35 million visitors last year, it said.
The Cinbujhihzih Walk (親不知子海上古道) — a new attraction in Fongbin Township (豐濱) that opened last year — saw nearly 170,000 visitors in its first four months, it said.
The total number of visitors rose, mainly because the number of people who went on a one-day trip to the county increased, department acting director Peng Wei-tsu (彭偉族) said.
Visitors did not stay overnight and their local spending was not high, Peng said.
Although the number of visitors last year shot up, surveys showed that South Korean visitors only went to Hualien for one-day tours of Taroko National Park and Cisingtan, Peng said, adding that hotels and guesthouses did not benefit.
Hualien plans to participate in tourism fairs abroad to boost its marketing, Peng said, adding that he hoped to increase the number of days international visitors stay in the county.
The Ministry of Transportation and Communications and the Taiwan Railways Administration have been working together with Hualien business owners to push travel packages that include transportation and accommodation to reduce the difficulty of purchasing train tickets to the area and increase hotel occupancy rates at the same time, Peng said.
Tourism-oriented businesses should grasp changing trends and innovate, expand their customer base and work with other industries, said Executive Yuan Eastern Taiwan Joint Services Center Executive Director Hsu Chuan-sheng (許傳盛), who is a former director of Kaohsiung’s Tourism Bureau.
The MICE — meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions — industry is a high value-added business, Hsu said.
The government should encourage the Hualien Tzu Chi Hospital, National Dong Hwa University and other organizations to host international conferences, Hsu said.
Attendees could then extend their stay in Hualien for leisure purposes, he said.
“As a major tourism destination, Hualien should maintain high standards and find unique local traits,” Hsu said, adding that would be its real advantage.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
RSS