Kenting resort strip in Taiwan makes a clean start after big drop in visitors
- New attractions and environmental improvements in Kenting National Park a response to tourists’ complaints and a drop in China tour groups
- Some guest houses and restaurants have closed, and others have frozen prices, while hotels pursue new sources of visitors, including Russia
On Taiwan’s premier coastal resort strip, a national park office is asking beach vendors to remove unused sun umbrellas and park idle watercraft onshore instead of in the water. It wants Nanwan, a major beach in the Kenting resort area, to look cleaner and safer. Tourist arrivals have dropped since 2015, hence the concern.
The number of visitors to Kenting National Park, which encompasses most of the resort area, hit a peak of 8.3 million in 2014 and topped 8 million again in 2015. Last year there were just 4.5 million arrivals, and in the first 10 months of 2018 just 3 million, according to park data.
Down the road from Nanwan, or South Bay, the Howard Beach Resort Kenting is building a mall that will accommodate at least five restaurants and a pub for up to 800 people. The hotel, which has 458 rooms, will open the mall next year alongside its indoor water park, so guests have things to do at night and in all weather, says general manager Chang Chi-kuang.
Meanwhile, in the Kenting hamlet of Jialeshui, the five-room SummerPoint guest house, popular with surfers, is avoiding increases in room rates.
Kenting has been struggling of late, and is taking steps to recover.
