Taichung vs Taipei

Taichung leads Taipei by 7 points on the CIRA Index, 71 to 64. Taichung grades better on 7 measures, Taipei on 4; the same 35 measures from public sources for both.

Scores by each organisation's criteria

• CIRA Index: Taichung 71, Taipei 64
• OECD: Taichung 72, Taipei 60
• UN Tourism: Taichung 69, Taipei 65
• UNDRR: Taichung 78, Taipei 51

Theme by theme

• Demand and seasonality: Taichung 85, Taipei 60
• Economy and jobs: Taichung 100, Taipei 83
• Climate and hazards: Taichung 38, Taipei 25
• Water and environment: Taichung 33, Taipei 63
• Community and housing: Taichung 100, Taipei 92
• Access and continuity: Taichung 80, Taipei 60

Where Taichung is stronger

• Domestic share of nights: 73.5 % of nights by residents of the same country (country figure) (Tourism Administration, MOTC (Taiwan), Jan–Sep 2025). At or above 45: grade 4/4.
• Recovery against 2019: 122 % of 2019 visitor nights reached in the latest full year (Taichung City Government Tourism and Travel Bureau / Commercial Times, 2024). At or above 110: grade 4/4.
• Extreme heat days: 5.4 days a year at or above 35°C (last 5 full years) (ERA5 reanalysis via Open-Meteo, 2021–2025). Between 5 and 15: grade 3/4.
• Tourism intensity: 3.2 visitor nights per resident per year (Taichung City Government Tourism and Travel Bureau & Department of Budget, Accounting and Statistics, 2025). At or below 5: grade 4/4.
• Access redundancy: 4 independent ways in: international airport, intercity rail, port, motorway (Taichung City Government Tourism and Travel Bureau & TIPC, 2026). At or above 4: grade 4/4.
• Early warning and emergency plan: An updated, tested plan that names visitors and tourism operators, with warnings in several languages (Taichung City Government, Fire Bureau, 2024-2025). Grade 4/4.
• Tourism crisis and recovery plan: A plan with named owners, operators and recovery funding (Taichung City Government Tourism and Travel Bureau (臺中市政府觀光旅遊局), 2024). Grade 3/4.

Where Taipei is stronger

• Hotel bed or room occupancy: 70 % average annual occupancy (Taipei City Government Department of Information and Tourism, 2025). Between 65 and 75: grade 3/4.
• Wastewater safely treated: 90.1 % of domestic wastewater safely treated (National Land Management Agency, Ministry of the Interior (Taiwan), The Table of the Statistics of the Sewage Treatment Rate, 2024). Between 85 and 95: grade 3/4.
• Municipal waste per resident: 423.8 kg per resident per year (National Audit Office & Ministry of Environment (Taiwan), Audit Report on Local Government Accounts, 2024). Between 350 and 450: grade 3/4.
• Green space: 18 % of the urban area that is green or tree-covered (Taiwan Forestry Research Institute / Taipei Times, Satellite survey shows New Taipei City and Taipei have least urban greenery, 2021). Between 10 and 20: grade 1/4.

Taichung in full · Taipei in full

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