Environmental sustainability concerns cause Taiwan to free fall on the global tourism chart

What would you rather see ?

This ?


....or this ?




Taiwan has plunged 22 places on the Geneva-based World Economic Forum's (WEF) Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report for 2008.

"Environmental sustainability" was given greater importance this year and Taiwan only managed to come in at an extremely poor 75th in the index of environmental sustainability. Weaknesses in "health and hygiene" (ranking 101st) and "natural resources" (103rd) also contributed to the nation's abysmal score.

Taiwan, with one of the highest levels of biodiversity per square kilometre on the planet should be looking to preserve its amazing natural heritage. Taiwan, with the highest mountains in East Asia, boasts climatic zones from tropical all the way to subarctic tundra. Taiwan is a living laboratory of almost all of Asia's climatic zones. To see what would take thousands of kilometres worth of travel on mainland Asia can be done by traveling just a few hundred kilometres on Taiwan.

Taiwan should be developing its unique natural heritage for ecotourism not trashing it in the race to become the world's leader in per capita CO2 emissions.

See the Taipei Times for the story.


Also see:

The Cost of Taiwan's Development

Taiwan's Wuchi Power Plant - the world's dirtiest

Government to reduce CO2 emissions in Taiwan to 2000 levels