The “Hualien Independent Travel Accommodation Subsidy” is due to end on Dec. 14, six days earlier than planned, after exhausting the funds, the Tourism Administration said in statement yesterday.
The agency encouraged tourists to book, as discounts would be available until the evening of Dec. 14, it said.
The “Hualien 3.0 Program,” which was originally supposed to run from Nov. 7 to Dec. 20, offers independent travelers a rebate on accommodation booked in Hualien County — NT$1,000 for the first night and NT$1,500 for the second night, the agency said.
Photo: CNA
The discount is part of a scheme to revitalize tourism in Hualien, which has been ongoing for six months.
The agency said it wanted to boost tourism in the area after the devastating earthquake on April 3, which measured a 7.2 on the Richter scale, and the barrage of typhoons over the summer, as it was worried about the impact on the tourism industry.
The government used more than NT$1 billion (US$30.83 million) from the secondary reserve fund for the revitalization and has continued to introduce new discounts to encourage tourists to visit the county, it said.
That included offering an 80 percent discount for amusement park visitors and a two-for-one offer on the “Taiwan Pass,” a round-the-nation travel package, the agency said, adding that the two schemes were used 120,000 times before they ended on Nov. 30.
Since the latest scheme’s rollout last month, tourism activities reached 50 percent capacity, while hotels and homestays reached 40 percent and 50 percent capacities respectively, it said.
That matches figures recorded for the same period last year, it added.
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