TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Tainan experienced a tourism boom during the Lunar New Year holiday, attracting over 7.5 million visitors, more than four times the population of the city.

Tainan boasts a rich cultural heritage and plethora of natural landscapes and gastronomic delights, making it a top choice for domestic travel amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The nine-day holiday saw at least 650,000 visitors per day, with some days hitting 1 million, according to the city’s Tourism Bureau.

Occupancy at accommodation businesses in Tainan reached an average rate of 80% during the first five days of the Lunar calendar. Demand was so robust that some fully booked hotels had to divert customers to other lodgings via a government-operated platform.

Temples of various deities were flooded with a total of 3.5 million tourists, as it’s a LNY tradition to pray for good fortune in the coming year. Tainan is expected to sustain its tourism boom in the near-term by hosting iconic folk celebration the Yanshui Beehive Fireworks Festival next week and lantern festivals lasting until the end of the month.

Visit Travel Tainan to learn more. 

(Facebook, Travel Tainan photo)