Only 587 Chinese free independent travelers (FIT) have visited Taiwan since the program was launched one month ago, the National Immigration Agency said.
The figure was seen as a gloomy forecast for the FIT program, which allows up to 500 Chinese per day to visit without having to be part of a tour group, or be chaperoned by a tour guide.
However, Mainland Affairs Council Deputy Minister Liu Te-shun (劉德勳) said the apparent lack of interest in the program only showed that more time was needed for both sides to become familiar with the new system.
“When travel exchanges of tour groups took effect in 2008, the situation was as bad,” he said. “Look at what we have achieved now.”
The Tourism Bureau said more than 3 million Chinese have visited Taiwan since the government opened the door to Chinese tour groups three years ago, bringing in NT$195.8 billion (US$6.57 billion).
Liu said seasonal factors should also be taken into consideration because Chinese students, seen as the biggest base for the program, are preparing for their exam season.
Tourism Bureau Deputy Director-General David Hsieh (謝謂君) said the bureau had approved about 1,000 applications from Chinese FITs.
He said he expects the program to be in full swing once Taiwan establishes a good reputation among individual Chinese tourists.
Travel Agent Association chairman Yao Ta-kuang (姚大光) said he was satisfied with the tourist traffic so far.
“The program doesn’t operate like a tap,” Yao said. “Give it a little time and we will see the daily cap hit its limit.”
Not everyone in the association agrees.
“We didn’t expect the quota to be met right away, but we are shocked that so few solo tourists have come so far,” said Roger Hsu (許高慶), secretary-general of the Travel Agent Association.
Hsu said travel agencies were probably not enthusiastic about promoting individual tourism, considered high-risk and low-profit, because they could be suspended if anyone goes missing.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY AFP
CHANGING LANDSCAPE: Many of the part-time programs for educators were no longer needed, as many teachers obtain a graduate degree before joining the workforce, experts said Taiwanese universities this year canceled 86 programs, Ministry of Education data showed, with educators attributing the closures to the nation’s low birthrate as well as shifting trends. Fifty-three of the shuttered programs were part-time postgraduate degree programs, about 62 percent of the total, the most in the past five years, the data showed. National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) discontinued the most part-time master’s programs, at 16: chemistry, life science, earth science, physics, fine arts, music, special education, health promotion and health education, educational psychology and counseling, education, design, Chinese as a second language, library and information sciences, mechatronics engineering, history, physical education
The Chinese military has boosted its capability to fight at a high tempo using the element of surprise and new technology, the Ministry of National Defense said in the Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) published on Monday last week. The ministry highlighted Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) developments showing significant changes in Beijing’s strategy for war on Taiwan. The PLA has made significant headway in building capabilities for all-weather, multi-domain intelligence, surveillance, operational control and a joint air-sea blockade against Taiwan’s lines of communication, it said. The PLA has also improved its capabilities in direct amphibious assault operations aimed at seizing strategically important beaches,
New Taipei City prosecutors have indicted a cram school teacher in Sinjhuang District (新莊) for allegedly soliciting sexual acts from female students under the age of 18 three times in exchange for cash payments. The man, surnamed Su (蘇), committed two offenses in 2023 and one last year, the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said. The office in recent days indicted Su for contraventions of the Child and Youth Sexual Exploitation Prevention Act (兒童及少年性剝削防制條例), which prohibits "engaging in sexual intercourse or lewd acts with a minor over the age of 16, but under the age of 18 in exchange for
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
RSS