Taiwan's hotels get ready to welcome tourists from China

Hotels in Taiwan, reacting to Beijing's decision to allow Chinese tourists to visit, will speed up expansion plans to receive Chinese tourists, a Chinese-language newspaper said on Saturday.

Six large hotels said they would either expand existing facilities or build new hotels at tourist resorts to accommodate Chinese tourists, the Commercial Times reported.

The six hotels include the Ambassador Hotel (國賓), Grand Formosa Regent Taipei (晶華), Leofoo Hotel (六福) and the Ritz Taipei Hotel (亞都麗緻), all of which are luxury hotels in Taipei.

Their expansions will cost NT$20 billion (US$63 million) and create 2,000 hotel rooms.

Beijing last Friday announced plans to allow tourists to visit Taiwan, challenging Taipei's five-decade-long ban on tourism links with China.

"The opening of Taiwan-bound tourism is an issue between Taiwan people and mainland people; it can improve understanding and help boost Taiwan's tourism industry," Zhang Jianzhong (張堅鐘), spokesman for the National Tourism Administration of China, told a news conference in Beijing.

"We will launch it with careful planning and step-by-step. We hope the Taiwanese government can authorize civic groups to hold talks with China's tourism sector. The talks can be held in China, Taiwan, Hong Kong or Macau," Zhang said.

Taipei reacted coldly to Beijing's announcement that it will let its citizens visit Taiwan on package tours.

"If Beijing is serious, it should hold government-to-government talks with us. China's announcement contains no concrete measures, so they are just empty words," government spokesman You Ying-lung (游盈隆) said.

In sharp contrast to the government's attitude, the tourism sector is excited about the arrival of Chinese tourists.

"A delegation made up of Taiwanese travel agents will visit China next month and call on China's tourism officials," Taiwan's Broadcasting Corp of China reported.

All Taiwan's newspapers on Saturday had front page stories about China's decision to send tour groups to Taiwan, with some calling it a lifesaver for the struggling tourism industry.