Number of Mainland Tourists Declines by 15%, Mainland Students by 20%

Number of Mainland Tourists Declines by 15%, Mainland Students by 20%

Source: United Daily News

July 1, 2016

The DPP government yesterday confirmed that the number of Mainland tourists visiting Taiwan had declined significantly. Katherine Chang (張小月), Chairperson of Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council (MAC), yesterday said that the number of Mainland tourists visiting Taiwan in May and June declined by 15% compared with the same period last year. In addition, according to the statistics of Taiwan’s National Immigration Agency, the number of Mainland tour groups applying to travel to Taiwan last month also declined by 36% compared with the same period last year.

Moreover, although Mainland tourists have been allowed to transit through the Taoyuan International Airport before flying onward to a third destination since February 1, the effect has been limited. As of June, only 221 Mainland tourists transited through Taiwan. Although the transit mechanism remains the same after the DPP assumed power on May 20, only 12 Mainland individual tourists transited through Taiwan since then.

In addition to the decline in the number of Mainland tourists, fewer Mainland students applied to study in Taiwan after the DPP government was sworn in last May. Universities originally expected that only short-term study programs and summer/winter vacation exchange camps would be impacted. However, the number of Mainland students applying to pursue undergraduate or graduate degrees in Taiwan has also declined. Take the 2016-17 school year for example. Only 3,818 Mainland students applied to pursue undergraduate degrees in Taiwan, a 21% decline compared with the 2015-16 school year, which saw 4,817 applicants. This is the first decline since Mainland students were allowed to study in Taiwan in 2011.

Universities in Taiwan are generally concerned with this phenomenon. According to Michael J. K. Chen (陳振貴), president of Shih Chen University, Liaoning Province has announced that “we do not encourage our students to study in Taiwan” while other provinces choose to wait and see. That is why the number of Mainland students applying to study in Taiwan has declined.  

Chen opined that the Taiwan government needed to improve its attitude regarding Mainland students. According to Chen, many Mainland students think that Taiwan is unfriendly to them due to all sorts of restrictions. This, coupled with the turnover of ruling parties, has made more and more Mainland students unwilling to study in Taiwan.

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