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The top stories from this past week were centered on a pair of typhoons which swept across Taiwan, marring the four-day Mid-Autumn Festival holiday weekend. The first typhoon – Meranti – passed through on Wednesday, the day before the vacation was to begin.
The hardest hit areas included the southern counties of Pingtung and Kaohsiung on the main island of Taiwan, as well as the outlying island of Kinmen.
Agricultural losses from Typhoon Meranti have been estimated at nearly NT$600 million (US$20 million).
President Tsai Ing-wen and Premier Lin Chuan both traveled to southern Taiwan to inspect damage following the super typhoon, which killed at least one and injured 44.
Premier Lin Chuan traveled to Kaohsiung on Thursday to a port where several dozen empty shipping containers tumbled into the water. A number of container ships and fishing boats in the harbor were also cast adrift when their moorings snapped. Lin said that the Port of Kaohsiung has rarely been so strongly affected by a typhoon before.
Meanwhile, a second, less powerful typhoon -- Typhoon Malakas -- has swept past Taiwan, bringing strong winds and heavy rain to the north and east of the island.
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Also this past week, About 20,000 people working in the tourism industry took to the streets on Monday demanding government aid in the wake of a major drop in Chinese tourists. Acting Tourism Bureau Director Wayne Liu said the government would earmark NT$30 billion (US$950 million) to develop the tourism industry.
There were only 170,000 visitors from China in August, which is a little over half of the 320,000 arrivals last August. Liu said that 38 tourism agencies, 250 hotels, and over 80 shops and tour bus operators have been directly affected.
"The total number of visitors to Taiwan has grown 8.4%, so the tourism industry is growing overall," said Liu. "For those who have been affected, we will try to compensate them through domestic travel promotions. We will also work with the Ministry of Labor to look into alternative plans for those who lost their job or are on unpaid leave."
Liu said the government also wants to attract tourists from other parts of Asia. Visitors from Thailand were up 37% from January to July after visa requirements were waived. Cruises have also attracted 50% more visitors from India. The bureau also plans to increase tourist arrivals from Southeast Asia by 20%. Though Chinese tourists have decreased, Liu said the bureau still hopes it can meet a goal of 10.44 million visitors this year.