A group of Japanese residents in Taiwan went on a two-day trip to Hualien County yesterday, as a sign of support for the county after its tourism industry was hit hard by recent earthquakes.
Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association Taipei Office Chief Representative Kazuyuki Katayama is also part of the group.
He told local reporters before embarking on a whale watching activity in Hualien City that the aim of the group trip is to support the county.
Photo: CNA
The trip was organized by Japanese individuals living in Taiwan, he said, adding that the group consisted of about 40 Japanese and Taiwanese.
Members of the group would share their trip on social media in hopes of promoting tourism in Hualien — which has been adversely impacted by the April 3 earthquake, which measured 7.4 on the Richter scale, that struck eastern Taiwan — and encouraging more Japanese to visit the county, he said.
Katayama, who took charge of the Taipei office of the Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association in November last year, said he was thrilled to visit Hualien for the first time and looks forward to taking part in various activities over the next two days.
The association’s Taipei office represents Tokyo’s interests in Taiwan in the absence of diplomatic ties between the two countries.
The group departed from Taipei yesterday — the first day of the Dragon Boat Festival holiday — and arrived in Hualien later in the day.
Apart from whale watching, the group was also scheduled to visit the Malasang Hunter School in Jian Township (吉安), where they would be introduced to traditional activities of the Amis indigenous people, and go to Dongdamen Night Market.
The group is to begin the second day with a tour of Chongqing Market (東大門夜市), followed by a visit to the Pine Garden, which was built by the Japanese during the colonial period to serve as a military command facility.
The major earthquake in early April, its aftershocks and subsequent quakes have taken a toll on Hualien’s tourism sector, said Chiu Hsi-tung (邱錫棟), representative of Hua Dong Whale World, the company that arranged the whale watching activity for the group.
The company’s tours during the Dragon Boat Festival are usually fully booked, Chiu said.
However, bookings this year have plummeted to roughly 30 percent, Chiu said.
As for bed-and-breakfasts, bookings at the end of last month for this weekend’s Dragon Boat Festival holiday were estimated to be less than 10 percent, said Lin Hsu Tse-yu (林徐則鈾), the head of an association representing bed-and-breakfast owners in Hualien,
This is in “stark contrast” to previous years, when bookings typically reached 70 percent during the Dragon Boat Festival holiday, Lin Hsu said.
The recent earthquakes had deterred many tourists and impacted the bed-and-breakfast business, Lin Hsu added.
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