Taiwan News
Date: 2016-01-24
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council Minister Andrew Hsia said Sunday the council is investigating a rumor circulating among Taiwan’s tour operators that China is cutting down on the number of Chinese tourists allowed into Taiwan.

The rumor is that China will reduce the number of its tourists allowed to visit Taiwan to two thirds of the current number from March 20 to June 30, keeping open only four of the 47 cities currently allowed for free and independent travel to Taiwan—Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Xiamen. It is said that China will cancel all quotas allowed for the other 43 cities.

Noting that he did hear such a rumor, Hsia said the MAC and the Tourism Bureau are investigating the truth behind the rumor through respective channels, and will make the results of the investigation public once they become available.

Hsia said China’s reducing the number of Chinese tourists allowed to visit Taiwan at this juncture “is not a good thing to cross-Strait relations.”