Occupancy rates in Taitung and Hualien reach new highs

Tourism is booming along Taiwan''s East Coast. Over two million travelers poured into Hualien and Taitung in June, filling up hotels, restaurants and tourist sites. Hoteliers in Hualien are seeing record occupancy rates, with 70% of rooms already booked for September. But the horde of tourists is also putting a strain on local amenities and infrastructure.

It’s a mountain of bed linens, too many for the bins to hold. The trolleys are full to overflowing.

At this commercial laundromat, the workers fold here and push there. Surrounded by whirring machines, they work up a sweat as they rush from task to task.

Mr. Chen
Laundromat proprietor
Since the start of summer vacation, our intake volume has been as high or even higher than our peak load during Spring Festival.

The washers keep spinning but there seems to be no end in sight to the workload, even with employees doing overtime. Due to a backlog of orders, this laundry facility has temporarily stopped taking new ones. Some clients have had no choice but to roll up their sleeves and launder their linens themselves.

Fu Chien-ting
Hostel operator
Recently they said they wouldn’t be able to wash them. So now we have to use a self-operated laundromat.

This laundry complex in Taitung is just as busy. Pile after pile waits for a wash.

Here they tie them in a pack. There, the washing continues. It’s non-stop work.

Yu Kuo-fung
Laundromat proprietor
All the hotels in Taitung are full to bursting, and the five commercial laundry companies in Taitung are overflowing.

To meet its manpower needs, this Taitung facility has recruited the residents of a nearby drug rehabilitation center.

It’s an endless stream of washing. In Hualien and Taitung, nearly every hotel has seen at least 80% occupancy every day. In Taitung, bookings for September are already above 70%. For the typically quiet month, it’s the highest rate in a decade.

Hualien tourism has been recovering since its April-May low of just 560,000 visits. Taitung has rebounded, too, recording 780,000 in June, not too far below its January figure. Together, Hualien and Taitung had 2 million visitors in the month of June. It got even busier in July after the launch of the government’s Triple Stimulus Vouchers. More than 820,000 people visited Hualien in just the 10 days between July 15 and 25.

The outlying islands are packed, too. On Green Island, scooters dominate the narrow roads.

Queues form at gas stations. Snack stands, restaurants and hotels are teeming with tourists. There have even been reports of a shortage of natural gas, with ship deliveries too slow to meet demand.

Most public health measures have been lifted, but recreational international travel is still largely off the table. As a result, the East Coast has become the place to be, delivering a boon for local business.

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