Taiwan quake cripples tourism in popular destination

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The Takoro Gorge is one of Taiwan’s preeminent tourist attractions. Located about half an hour drive from Hualien city, it features deep canyons, folded marble boulders, rivers of emerald green and a clifftop view of an ocean that is an uncanny shade of turquoise. The area is also home to large numbers of aboriginal people, with distinctive features and culture.

As the Lunar New Year holiday approaches, a steady stream of tourist buses should be pulling up at the Taroko’s viewpoints. But during our visit, I see only one bus, and a few dozen tourists walking the trails carved out of the cliff faces. It made for a pleasantly tranquil visit, but it’s bad news for Hualien, which is heavily dependent on tourism.

/Rian Maelzer Photo

Our driver tells us that the union representing people in the local hospitality industry is angry about what it sees as sensationalistic coverage in the hyper-competitive local media of the 6.5 magnitude quake that killed 17 people, nine of them from the mainland. They say the coverage has given the impression the whole of Hualien is a disaster zone.

At the memorial for those who died in the quake, I spoke with two tourism industry people. Their anxiety was clear.

/Rian Maelzer Photo‍

“In fact, the earthquake does not affect Hualien so much,” said travel agent Lo Li-Ping. "All the tourist attractions are intact, and there are just a few buildings that are badly damaged. The big problem is the sensationalist media,” she says. “Hualien is such a beautiful place, it’s such a shame if that some misleading reports are affecting tourism.”

Po Huang, a hotel marketing supervisor, points out that almost all roads in and around Hualien are fine, services have been restored, the trains and planes are still running as normal.

“What we worry about is that the impact of an earthquake is not like a typhoon,” he says. “A typhoon affects tourism and business for three to four days. The impact of an earthquake can last half a year, a year, even longer.”

/Rian Maelzer Photo

As we walked along a trail in the gorge, we met three generations of a family from Guangdong on the mainland: parents, kids, grandmothers. They decided not to cancel their trip since they already had firm plane and hotel bookings. They checked with people in Hualien before coming and were assured life was carrying on much as usual.

“We’re fine about it,” the mother said. “It’s just that last night when we were at the hotel we were a little bit afraid. The old people didn’t sleep well. We all felt aftershocks.”

Farther along the trail, several signs warned us not to linger because of the danger from falling rocks.

/Rian Maelzer Photo

And at the most famous part of the gorge, an area known as Swallow Grotto, where the river has cut deep down through the stone, we were given hard hats to wear. It seemed an unnecessary precaution. But as we continued along the walkway, the splintered planks beneath our feet revealed where falling rocks had punched holes clean through the hardwood surface.

It was a reminder that people living in Hualien are at the mercy of the forces of nature. Seismic and tectonic forces shaped the gorge’s spectacular scenery and turned it into a major tourist attraction. Those are the same forces that shook Hualien to deadly effect last week – both Hualien’s good fortune and its bane.