Taiwanese tourists pour into small islands as coronavirus hits overseas travel

An estimated 2,000 visitors arrived on Taitung County's Green Island and Orchid Island Friday

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/02/28
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — As the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak makes travel to nearby countries less attractive, Taiwanese tourists have piled into small islands off the southeast coast for the three-day holiday, reports said Friday (Feb. 28).

The public holiday marks the anniversary of the 1947 massacre by Chiang Kai-shek’s government in which more than 10,000 people died.

While in previous years Taiwanese seized the opportunity to travel to Japan, South Korea, China, or Hong Kong, the intensity of the coronavirus outbreak in those areas has turned their attention to domestic destinations instead.

On Friday alone, an estimated 2,000 people traveled by ship or airplane to Green Island and Orchid Island, two small islands off the coast of southeast Taiwan’s Taitung County.
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