Members of Kaohsiung's tourism industry yesterday protested against a draft regulation that would allow only "older" travel agencies to handle tourism from China.
The protests occurred at a public hearing on the issue and the anger was directed at a clause in the draft which states that only travel agencies that have operated for more than five years may handle tourism from China.
"Handling tourists from China is a new opportunity for Taiwan's tourism industry," said Su Li-chou (
"The government should not deny travel agencies' rights by restricting the handling of Chinese tourists according to the length of time we have practiced."
Taiwan's tourism industry has long been eager to promote tourism from China.
Among the 36 resolutions of the Economic Development Advisory Conference's cross-strait panel at the end of August, one was to seek the promotion of tourism from China.
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) started to draft regulations governing tourism from China after Premier Chang Chun-hsiung (
The MAC released its completed draft after soliciting the opinions of travel agent associations around Taiwan and the Ministry of Transportation and Communication's Tourism Bureau, which is in charge of managing Taiwan's tourism industry.
The regulation requires travel agencies that wish to handle tourists from China to have practiced in Taiwan for at least five years, to belong to a national-level travel agency association, and to have been registered with the tourism bureau for at least one year as an agency that can legally arrange tours to China.
Also, travel agencies handling tourists from China have to deposit NT$1 million with the travel agency association to which they belong for emergency use in such eventualities as a Chinese tourist absconding or being involved in an accident in Taiwan.
Fu Don-cheng (
Officials from the Tourism Bureau say they drafted the regulations after discussions with travel associations and after studying Japanese, South Korean and Australian rules and regulations governing tourists from China as well as promotional efforts used to attract them.
Hsu Chin-jui (
"The regulation was drafted on the basis of a consensus of most travel agent associations, and these businessmen should voice their opinions to the associations to which they belong," Hsu said.
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