Less than a week before the inauguration of regular cross-strait charter flights, three Chinese tourists were reported to have run away from their hotel in Jhongli on Friday morning, the second instance this year of Chinese tourists illegally abandoning their approved itinerary.
The three men all belonged to a 22-person tour group from Guangdong. The group arrived in Taiwan on Tuesday via a third destination as required by existing laws.
The Tourism Bureau said the group was scheduled to spend the night at a hotel in Jhongli.
The three men are believed to have absconded at about 2am.
The first runaway Chinese tourist incident occurred in January, when a female Chinese tour guide, Chen Li (陳麗), left her group in the middle of the night. She was apprehended by police last month.
The bureau said it had contacted the tour company and warned that if the trio did not show up within 10 days, the National Immigration Agency would list them as illegal aliens who have overstayed their visa. If captured, the three would be deported to China.
The tour company also faces a fine of NT$200,000 (US$6,570) per missing tourist.
At press time, the tour company said the trio was rumored to have agreed to rejoin the group tomorrow.
Taiwan’s Straits Exchange Foundation and its Chinese counterpart, the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait, reached an agreement on cross-strait charter flights on June 13.
The first group of Chinese tourists is expected to arrive on Friday. Subsequently, 3,000 Chinese tourists per day will be allowed to visit Taiwan as agreed in the talks.
In related news, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said on Friday night that it was unable to release flight schedules because the tour companies “are still looking for customers.”
The announcement came as a shock to many as the government has encouraged the belief cross-strait flight tickets would sell like hot cakes.
Additional reporting by Tseng Hung-ru and CNA
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