Taroko National Park may become the next Kenting; shop owners lament: It's hopeless

Mainland Chinese tourists have plummeted. According to statistics from the Ministry of the Interior, Taroko National Park had a total of 4.52 million visitors in 2016, a sharp decline of 31% compared to 2015. (Photo courtesy of this newspaper group)

With the absence of mainland Chinese tourists and a loss of domestic visitors as well, famous tourist spots across Taiwan are facing an avalanche-like drop in tourist numbers. Aside from Kenting, which recently sparked controversy over “exorbitantly priced snacks,” and saw the most significant drop in tourist numbers last year, Hualien’s Taroko National Park is the next hardest hit, with a decline of 43%, leaving shop owners to exclaim that without mainland Chinese tourists, there’s no hope.

Today’s Apple Daily reports that comparing visitor numbers at major domestic tourist spots from January to September last year (2017) with the same period the previous year (2016), the most notable declines in foot traffic occurred at Kenting’s Maobitou Park and the Taroko National Park Visitor Center. Among them, Kenting’s visitor numbers were cut in half, dropping by 59%; Taroko wasn’t far behind, with a 43% decrease, ranking second.

In 2016, small artisan shops and surrounding businesses in Hualien closed down due to the sharp drop in mainland Chinese tourists. (Photo courtesy of this newspaper group)

Aside from the avalanche-like decline in tourism in Kenting, which has raised concerns among local businesses about the impact on their trade, other tourist spot commercial areas across Taiwan are also bracing for impact, fearing they might become the next Kenting. In the past, the parking lot at the Taroko National Park Visitor Center was often packed with tour buses from mainland Chinese tour groups, but now, with the loss of visitors, one artisan shop owner lamented, “Mainland Chinese tourists aren’t coming; it’s hopeless.”