A group of Taiwanese county leaders are breaking with the government line on cross-Strait relations and plan to travel to Beijing to woo Chinese tourists.
The News Lens
Date: 2016/09/13
By: Hsu Chia-yu
A group of county leaders from Taiwan plans to meet officials from the Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) in
Photo Credit: AP/ 達志影像
Beijing on Sept. 16 to invite Chinese tourists to visit “counties which recognize the ‘1992 consensus’” in Taiwan.
It has been reported that in the period from May 20, when President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) took office, to Aug. 16, the number of Chinese tourists visiting Taiwan decreased by 40 percent from 350,000 to 220,500, compared with the same period last year. The exact reasons for the drop in Chinese tourists have yet to be determined; other destinations for Chinese tourists, such as Hong Kong and Macau, have also experienced drops in Chinese arrivals this year.
About 10,000 people took to the streets in Taipei on Sept. 12, calling for government action to help the tourism industry. Although the Executive Yuan on Sept. 8 said it would offer loans totaling NT$30 billion (US$940 million) to the industry, some tour operators said the government’s action would not meet the industry’s urgent needs. [FULL STORY]