Cross-strait flights are expected to gradually increase as Taiwan is set to resume group tours to and from China next year, Minister of Transportation and Communications Wang Kwo-tsai (王國材) said yesterday.
Wang was scheduled to brief lawmakers in a meeting at the Legislature’s Transportation Committee about the draft of the transportation safety basic act.
Before Wang attended the meeting, reporters asked whether the government would increase the number of Chinese airports in which direct flights are available, as the group tour ban to and from China is to be lifted before the Lunar New Year holiday in February and Taiwanese travel agents could begin organizing tours leaving from March 1.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
“We now have 10 Chinese airports that accommodate direct flights from Taiwan, while 13 other Chinese airports accept Taiwanese charter flights... If there is steady growth in passenger volumes in some of the Chinese airports that accept charter flights, they can be upgraded to direct flight services,” Wang said, adding that travel agents do not find any problem with the number of Chinese airports that accept Taiwanese charter flights either.
The announcement to lift the group tour ban to and from China, which was made on Friday last week, surprised many in the travel industry, as only very few expected any dramatic cross-strait policy change before the upcoming presidential and legislative elections on Jan. 13.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Taipei City Councilor Yu Shu-hui (游淑慧) last week criticized the Democratic Progressive Party government’s decision, saying that it promised the voters what they would do after the elections but did nothing while they are still in power.
“We have shown goodwill to China in many instances. We hope, under the principle of equality and reciprocity, that both sides can simultaneously lift the ban on group tours. However, we did not receive any response from China,” Wang told reporters.
“In the meantime, we see Taiwanese travel agents who arrange tours to China or host Chinese tour groups need to maintain operations and pay their employees. We consider the latter to be more important than the former,” he said.
Further details about lifting the group tour ban to and from China are to be announced before the Lunar New Year holiday, but travel agents in Taiwan and China could begin arranging tours now, Wang said.
The Mainland Affairs Council on Aug. 24 said that it aimed to resume cross-strait tourism following a 30-day preparation period, but would cap the number of group travelers going in either direction at 2,000 per day in the initial phase.
When exactly cross-strait tourism could resume would depend largely on China’s response to the policy, the council said at the time.
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