Taiwan looks to ecotourism to boost conservation, local economies

台灣望藉生態旅遊帶動保育與地方經濟發展

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan is turning to ecotourism to connect conservation with economic opportunities for communities around protected areas.

“The one thing that communities need to do is to reclaim their culture and train their people to tell their own stories,” said Chen Mei-Hui (陳美惠), a professor of forestry at the National Pingtung University of Science and Technology, Thursday at this year’s International Conference on Tourism in Taipei.

At the Xuhai-Guanyinbi Nature Reserve in southern Taiwan, home to the Alangyi Historic Trail, local residents have been trained as guides to lead visitors through the area, generating about NT$10 million in annual revenue while bringing tourists to nearby businesses, she said.

The Alangyi Historic Trail is said to be Taiwan’s last major stretch of “unspoiled coastline” without a modern highway. The area around the trail was designated a reserve in 2012 after years of efforts to prevent a planned extension of a provincial highway through the region.

In Wutai Township, the approach became part of the recovery after Typhoon Morakot devastated the area in 2009 and forced many residents to relocate, Chen said.

In 2020, a special protected area covering three Indigenous communities in Wutai was designated, and ecotourism has since created economic opportunities while encouraging residents to return and maintain their connection to their traditional territory and culture.

Taiwan’s community-based ecotourism model took shape in 2006 in Sheding, a community in Kenting National Park, where government agencies, academics, and residents joined forces to develop tourism centered on protecting local natural and cultural resources.

“In the past, government management of protected areas often clashed with local communities,” Chen said. “We want the government to have communities’ backs as they develop ecotourism, and residents to become long-term partners in managing the environment.”

Chen, who began her career at the Forestry Agency, has been promoting ecotourism as a means to preserve biodiversity for two decades and co-founded a national platform in late 2024 that coordinates ecotourism and regional revitalization efforts across 65 communities in Taiwan.

Kuo Yu-jen (郭育任), chair of the Taiwan Ecotourism Association, said Taiwan’s diverse natural environments, Indigenous and other cultural traditions, community participation, as well as years of experience in conservation make it an important hub for ecotourism in Asia.