Protestants call on government to set aside political stance to save tourism

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-09-12
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

Two business owners from Chiayi, who joined Monday’s protest in Taipei City organized by tourism related chambers of commerce around Taiwan, said they hope the government will listen to their appeals and do something to help them feed their families as their businesses have been hardly hit by declining Chinese tourist numbers.

Lin Hsia-chou, who runs a restaurant on Alishan, and Lin Mei-mei, who owns a shop of tea leaves in Chiayi, are among the protestants from Chiayi who came to join the protest in 13 tour buses.

Numbers of Chinese tourists visiting Alishan have dropped 80 percent, seriously impacting business in the area, Lin Hsia-chou said, adding that his restaurant used to have more than 30 employees, but now there are only about 10. He pleaded the government not to interfere with people’s life with its political stance, saying that their appeal is very simple, and that is they want to have a stable life and they want to be able to make a living.     [FULL  STORY]