TAIPEI, March 20 (Xinhua) -- Hualien on Taiwan's eastern coast, once alive with tourists exploring its valleys, cliffs and spectacular Pacific views, found many restaurants and hotels short of customers in the first two months of this year despite the New Year and Spring Festival season.

During the nine-day Spring Festival holiday in February, except for several deluxe resort accommodations, hotels in Hualien generally reported average occupancy rates of just 50 to 60 percent, Taiwan's United Daily News reported, citing local official data.

Figures outside public holidays appeared even more discouraging. "In January this year, hotel occupancy in Hualien was below 25 percent, reaching a record low," said Tang Yu-shu, previously the director of the tourism department at the Hualien County government.

"It can be said that Hualien's tourism industry is going through a harsh winter," she added.

A magnitude-7.3 earthquake that struck Hualien in April 2024 has been a major factor, leaving parts of Taroko park, one of the region's core tourist attractions, still under repair and closed to the public.

But, observers and local tourism operators say the sluggish trend had emerged much earlier, pointing to the suspension of mainland tourists to the island in 2020 as another key factor, a restriction that remains in place under the island's Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) authorities.

Around Taroko park, where many restaurants see few customers even at lunchtime, a noodle shop owner told Xinhua that customer numbers have dropped by 70 to 80 percent in recent years. Even before the earthquake, peak visitor numbers in Taroko had already declined from the previous level.

Despite policies aimed at boosting tourism, visitor numbers in Hualien in 2025 were only 70 percent of their 2019 levels. At Qixingtan Beach, one of the main scenic spots, visitor numbers fell to just 26 percent of the peak 10 years ago, when arrivals from the mainland were at their height, showed data from the tourism department of Hualien County government.

According to Ringo Lee, chairman of the High Quality of Travel Association in Taiwan, mainland tourists are particularly important to places like Hualien, as they tend to stay longer and take round-island trips, rather than only staying in Taipei, as about 80 percent of non-mainland visitors do.

Before tourism was suspended, a typical itinerary for both group and independent mainland visitors began in Taipei and continued south through Hualien, Kaohsiung and Pingtung.

"Mainland visitors stayed in Taiwan for an average of 7.8 days, much longer than the 3.5-day average for tourists from other regions," Lee said. "We used to see many mainland tourists across different parts of the island."

The decline in mainland tourists visiting Taiwan has affected areas ranging from Hualien and its neighboring Taitung County to the southern city of Kaohsiung and Pingtung County in the far south -- home to Kenting's beaches, which were once a top destination for young mainland travelers.

The suspension of mainland tourists has dealt a heavy blow to areas that once relied on round-island travel. Many tour buses now sit idle, and some restaurants have been forced to close after standing empty for long, according to tourism insiders.

"The restriction on mainland tourists visiting Taiwan has had a huge impact here. We all hope mainland tourists can come back," Tang said.

On Feb. 4, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism announced that the mainland would soon resume tourism for Shanghai residents to Kinmen and Matsu, previously limited to residents of Fujian, in a bid to further normalize cross-Strait people-to-people exchanges and respond to strong expectations from Taiwan residents and the tourism industry.

The move came a day after a think tank forum in Beijing, co-hosted by research institutes affiliated with the Communist Party of China and the Taiwan-based Chinese Kuomintang party. The forum reached a series of common opinions on promoting cross-Strait exchanges and cooperation, including pushing the removal of restrictions imposed by the DPP authorities on cross-Strait personnel exchanges.

"This is a litmus test, and we should see how the authorities respond," Lee said. "If mainland tourism to Taiwan can be further restored, the island's tourism industry will surpass pre-pandemic levels." ■