After the easing of the pandemic and the reopening of borders, there has been a surge in overseas travel, leading to a displacement effect and impacting tourism in various places. Kenting, a popular destination for summer vacation, experienced nearly a 10% decrease in tourist numbers in July compared to the same period last year (2022).
Pingtung County has intensified domestic and international marketing efforts to retain tourists, while Kaohsiung has been organizing large-scale events like the Kite Festival in succession, aiming to sustain the momentum of tourism.
With the lifting of the 1000-person cap and the opening of borders, there has been a surge in overseas travel, leading to a displacement effect that has impacted tourism across various regions in Taiwan.
Speaking as a person who is an editor of vr-kenting.com and naturally has been visited Kenting many times, I see that the problem of lifting a cap international travel is just a partial problem.
First and foremost, I must mention that prices in Kenting for food and for a more or less reasonable to stay hotel is just beyond comprehension for a regular domestic tourist that the Pingtung Count government wants to attract. We had written about 120 NTD chicken chop, 1200 NTD seafood set, and a corn cob for 300NTD – is just what got the media attention – I know from my own experience that visiting Kenting Nightmarket without at least 300 – 500 NTD per person is just a useless task.
Hotel and resort prices are just outrageous. If you want to stay, for example in Caesar Park Hotel Kenting and you want to have a room with pool access, and it is July, and maybe even in a weekend – prepare to slash out 30,000 NTD+ – almost 1000 USD! A thousand US dollars per night.
In my recent trip in August 2023, I actually wanted to book the M42 resort, which is even not a beachfront type resort (while definitely a sea view), just a room for 2 persons a night was well over 10,000 NTD! Just because of this price I simply could not force myself to slash out 12,000 NTD or so per night, and went for a Kentington resort this time (a review and a place on our virtual Kenting tourist map is coming).
Or take this new W-Villa near Shadao beach in Eluanbi. It is NOT a beachfront property, at all – you need to cross a highway to get on the Shadao beach, where you CAN NOT SWIM. Price? Over 10,000 NTD per room, if you are “lucky” to come in season or in the holidays.
For this price – over 300 USD per night, you can find many resorts in the Philipines, Palau, Thailand and elsewhere, + add the excitement for a just-opened travel abroad. Maybe it’s time to be less greedy?
More examples? How about Volando resort in Houbihu, where coming at MONDAY in August, will cost you a minimum of 14,000 NTD+ for the cheapest type of room?
In this news cast from PTS, we can see a Houbihu sea food restaurant owner complaining that tourist amount has dropped more than a half after travel restrictions were eased:
So, if you scroll video to 0:41, he says: “Originally it was a hundred percent, but now at the very least, it’s reduced by half. Things have changed after the lifting of restrictions.”
Now let me tell you personal experience with Houbihu Harbor seafood stalls. First of all I love it, seafood always is very fresh there, I always can get my favorite Yulai Mushroom with Egg dish, but… once we were there with a group of other friends, we arrived by ferry from Orchid Island.
I offered eat just here, in Houbihu seafood restaurant area.
They answered, nope – its too expensive here, lets go find other place, where it will same food but cheaper. I am sure restaurant owners and hotel owners in Kenting will never read what I am writing here, but I hope the experience and market will start suggest them that in the age of cheap airline tickets they can’t stay isolated any more from reality.
This is just considering the prices. How about the mess on the beaches? How about bringing local tourists to non-finished B&B’s? How about spiders, centipedes and underwear in the villa at the price of Maldives resorts?
How about garbage under the bed in the B&B for a 5,000 NTD? How about holes in the walls and dirty stains everywhere in a B&B on Kenting street?
I am NOT a hater. Not at all. Otherwise, I would not be making a whole resource dedicated to Kenting at my cost and at the expense of my own time. Many positive examples are well-priced and adequate you can see those on our map. Use filters for hotels, B&Bs, and resorts.
I am truly interested in Kenting to prosper, but the quality/price ratio must be adequate at the best – for now, it is not at all.