The nation still aims to attract 10 million international visitors this year, despite a lack of Chinese visitors, Minister of Transportation and Communications Wang Kwo-tsai (王國材) said yesterday, adding that the nation has yet to see the “twilight” of the resumption of cross-strait tourism.
The government in November last year unilaterally announced that a group tour travel ban to and from China was to be lifted on March 1. However, Beijing has yet to allow group travelers or individual travelers to visit Taiwan.
On Feb. 7, the Tourism Administration announced that group tours to China would be suspended from June 1 as Beijing has not lifted the travel ban to Taiwan and unilaterally changed the M503 flight path, undermining aviation security.
Photo: Lo Pei-de, Taipei Times
“The Mainland Affairs Council was hoping that China would reciprocate by allowing cross-strait tourism exchanges to resume. As such, we had estimated that 2 million to 2.5 million Chinese tourists would come when we set the goal for international visitors,” Wang told reporters before attending a meeting of the Legislature’s Transportation Committee yesterday morning.
“However, China seems more determined than we had imagined in not allowing individual travelers to enter Taiwan, and we have yet to see the twilight on the resumption of cross-strait tourism exchange,” he said.
The Tourism Administration originally planned to revise the goal for international visitors from 12 million to 9.5 million if Chinese tourists coud not visit, Wang said.
“However, I told Tourism Administration Director-General Chung Yung-hui (周永暉) that we should at least aim to have 10 million international travelers this year,” he said. “We still hope that the cross-strait tourism exchange can be resumed in a healthy and orderly manner.”
Tourism Administration statistics showed that as of last month, 1.95 million international visitors had visited Taiwan so far this year, including 580,000 in January, 620,000 in February and 750,000 last month.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus secretary-general Hung Mong-kai (洪孟楷) blamed the lack of Chinese tourists on the Democratic Progressive Party for allowing its political convictions override the operation of cross-strait tourism.
“The nation has more individual travelers than group travelers, and few tour operators in central and southern Taiwan can benefit from having more individual travelers. The Tourism Administration should understand the situation and should not let politics transcend tourism. More people should come and see the beautiful scenery in Taiwan,” Hung said.
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