Taiwan's Pingtung County government is under fire for a cocoa tourism site that keeps losing visitors, bad news for taxpayers who funded it but a possible turning point for local cocoa farmers.

• Pingtung spent NT$51 million in 2021 turning an empty old church in Wanluan into a cocoa park, and auditors now say the outsourced operation is failing.
• Visitor numbers fell for three straight years, dropping to about 39,000 in each of the past two years.
• Cocoa growing itself is booming — Pingtung produced around 330 tonnes in 2024, more than half of Taiwan's total — so the sales and tourism side is the weak link.
• The county says visits have rebounded this year, hitting 30,000 by the end of July after it added double-decker bus routes, guided tours, and chocolate-making workshops.

Outlook: The county will lean harder on packaged tour routes and events to lift traffic, but auditors will be watching whether the recovery holds.