Cliff-like plunge: Taiwan's tourism industry becomes "miserable"

Taipei, August 20 (Xinhua) -- The outbreak of the new crown epidemic in Taiwan in May lasted for more than two months, causing a heavy blow to the tourism industry. According to Taiwan's tourism department, the number of tourists from major recreation bases in China fell sharply by 84.5% year-on-year in June, most counties and cities declined by more than 90%, and the number of tourists in Kinmen and Matsu was even higher.

The epidemic has turned Taiwan's tourism industry into a "miserable business". In fact, the cliff-like plunge has already appeared last year, and this year's epidemic prevention cracks on the island have been torn open, which is even worse. According to the data, the number of tourists and outbound tourists in Taiwan in 2019 was about 11.864 million and 17.101 million respectively, and the "diving" dropped to about 1.377 million and 2.335 million in 2020, while only more than 70,000 and more than 180,000 were left in the first half of 2021.

"It's been more than a year, and the industry is really struggling in the torment!" Li Qiyue, spokesman for the Taiwan Travel Industry Quality Assurance Association, said in an interview with Xinhua News Agency. According to the association's statistics, more than 60 travel agencies in Taiwan have closed down since last year.

80% of Taiwan's travel agencies are engaged in outbound tourism, while 10% of inbound tourism and domestic tourism are operated. Li Qiyue told reporters that the scale of domestic tourism is about 160 million person-times a year, most of which are self-guided tours, and only about 10% will be arranged through travel agencies, and the profits for travel agencies are meager. Therefore, this structural problem has caused serious challenges to the operation of the industry under the epidemic.

A few days ago, Li Qiyue went to visit a senior who was engaged in the business of outbound tourism. "Before the pandemic, his company had an entire floor in an office building with dozens of employees. Now moved to a business center, rented a small space, and only 4 people are left, including him and his wife and two senior cadres. Li Qiyue said, "There are many such travel agencies, and if you go to see the business centers around Songjiang Road and Nanjing East Road in Taipei City, you will know this change." ”

Why not switch to domestic travel? Li Qiyue said bluntly that the industry has also tried, but it is not easy to transform in a short period of time, and many employees can't carry it and leave. He told reporters that the authorities have relevant salary relief subsidies, but the harsh winter is too long, and many employers really can't stand it. The industry called for more relief, but the answer was that there was no money.

"Many employees in the industry have their livelihoods affected, and they can only choose to change careers, and a large number of tour guides and tour leaders run to deliver takeaways." The courier Li Qiyue once met happened to be a student of his tour guide class, who originally brought a tour group to Japan and had a good income. The student said that there was really no way to survive now, and he had to make ends meet first.

At a symposium on "the difficulties and prospects faced by Taiwan's tourism industry" on the 18th, relevant people said that there are more than 3,700 tourist hotels in Taiwan, half of which are currently closed, and the other half are converted into epidemic prevention hotels, and the rest are dying. Taiwan's tourism department registers about 48,000 travel industry employees, 17,000 people who receive salary subsidies, nearly 60% of employees have been lost, and almost all the industry is now relying on "self-reliance and self-reliance", and can only look forward to a turnaround after the popularization of vaccines.

Taiwan's epidemic prevention level 3 alert was reduced to level 2 at the end of July, what kind of "benefits" can it bring to the tourism industry? Huang Zhengcong, associate professor of the Department of Tourism at Jingyi University, told the media that the number of tourists to the scenic spots will improve slightly, but it should still be bad, the recession in June is too large, it is estimated that August will recover at most 20% to 30%, in previous years, summer is the peak season, but this year seems to have little hope. Now we hope to increase the vaccination rate, but the "revitalization voucher" proposed by the authorities will not save tourism, or look forward to the introduction of a further bailout plan for the tourism industry.

Li Qiyue also believes that after the downgrade of epidemic prevention vigilance, individual self-guided tours will gradually pick up, but group tours related to travel agencies are still difficult to recover, on the one hand, there are relevant restrictions in the catering industry, and travel vehicles cannot exceed 20 people, so it is impossible to have a large outbreak of tourism on the island last summer due to the reduction of outbound travel.

Regarding the recovery of the inbound and outbound tourism market, Huang Zhengcong and Li Qiyue both expressed general pessimism in the industry. Li Qiyue believes that this depends on the progress of vaccination in Taiwan and the world. According to relevant reports from international agencies, it is likely that the recovery to the 2019 level will be in 2023 or 2024.

"In the second half of this year, if the epidemic in Taiwan maintains its current stable state, the domestic tourism market is expected to have a small rebound, but there is no way to support the industry to get out of trouble, and everyone will tighten their belts." Li Qiyue said that since last year, the relevant bailout policies have been too slow, and the emergency should be rescued quickly, hoping to be more efficient. The industry kept calling, but it didn't seem to work. Bailout measures must be sustained, and new measures have not yet been seen.

Source: Xinhua News Agency