The ministry said around 3,000 to 4,000 Taiwanese travel to Mexico — mostly to Mexico City — a year.
Travel Agent Association (TAA) chairman Yao Ta-kuang (姚大光) said there are no Taiwanese tour groups in Mexico at the moment, adding that a majority of Taiwanese tourists traveling in the US would only go shopping in Tijuana, which is across the border from San Diego, California.
Legislators across party lines urged the government to be alert.
“We hope [the DOH] not only carries out epidemic control at the airport as it did during the SARS outbreak, but also takes strategic precautions against the flu,” Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus secretary-general Yang Chiung-ying (楊瓊瓔) told a press conference.
KMT caucus deputy secretary-general Hsiao Ching-tien (蕭景田) urged the DOH to keep track of those who had traveled to flu-hit areas.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Twu Shiing-jer (涂醒哲) said the government should carefully monitor Chinese tourists because many diseases in Taiwan originated in China and China was a dangerous epidemic area.
He said the Chinese tourists should receive epidemic control measure like those used for international, not domestic flights, and the guides for Chinese tourists groups should be responsible for reporting suspected cases to health authorities.
In related news, share prices closed down 2.99 percent in Taipei yesterday as investors rushed to pocket recent significant gains on hopes of better cross-strait business ties, dealers said.
But market sentiment also soured on fears that the swine flu outbreak would cast a shadow over the already weak global economy, they said.
The TAIEX fell 175.72 points to 5,705.05 on turnover of NT$136.80 billion (US$4.05 billion).
The New Taiwan dollar fell for the first time in four days on concern the spread of the swine-flu virus would curb travel and trade. Eight of Asia’s 10 most-active currencies outside Japan declined against the dollar and regional stocks dropped after the US declared a public- health emergency.
The NT dollar eased to NT$33.73 versus the greenback, from NT$33.711 on April 24, the Taipei Forex said.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY FLORA WANG, LOA IOK-SIN,
RICH CHANG, SHELLEY SHAN, AFP AND BLOOMBERG
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