Tourism Industry Seeks Relief from Central Gov’t

Tourism Industry Seeks Relief from Central Gov’t

Source: UDN & China Times

August 22, 2019

The Mainland put curbs on tourism to Taiwan. It not only suspended travel visas for individual travelers starting August, but also would adjust the quota for tour groups from September. However, even still in August, a travel agency which focused specifically on Mainland visitors was reportedly yesterday imposing furloughs. Huang Wen-ching (黃文卿), deputy head of the Travel Quality Assurance Association (TQAA), stated that in September, more travel agencies would downsize their companies, lay off employees, or impose furloughs.

Chen Yi-feng (陳義豐), president of the Hualien County Commercial Hotel Association, said that the association hoped that the central government could take action, allowing the tourism operators to weather through the low season before the 2020 elections next January.

Transportation Minister Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) indicated that currently, in addition to the two domestic tourism subsidy programs, visa requirements for Southeast Asian tourists to Taiwan would be loosened, adding that inter-ministerial meetings would be convoked to assist tourism operators to mitigate their problems.

At the KMT Central Standing Committee meeting yesterday, Chairman Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) stated that he had asked Chang Hsien-yao (張顯耀), a former vice chairman of the Straits Exchange Foundation, and Chou Chi-hsiang (周繼祥), head of the KMT’s Mainland Affairs Department, to meet with Liu Jie-yi (劉結一), Director of the Mainland’s Taiwan Affairs Office, and express our views that “the Mainland’s actions have harmed Taiwan’s tourism industry, leaving only an unfriendly impression to the people in Taiwan.” Wu went on to state that Chang and Chou also said to Liu that the KMT hoped that the Mainland would lift the ban on individual tourism and keep group-tour quotas unchanged so as not to impact various aspects of Taiwan’s economy, adding that Liu responded by saying that this would be carefully studied.

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