To Brandon Huang (黃詩凱), a government worker in Kaohsiung, Sizihwan Bay (西子灣) is known for its enticing coastal scenery and mesmerizing sunsets. Lately, however, he says the bay’s parking lot is filled with large tour buses on weekends. Walking down from the Former British Consulate at Takao (打狗英國領事館), he was recently forced to take the left side of the stairs as several groups of Chinese tourists made their way up to the historic site.
“Some of them stood on the stairs to read banners held by Falun Gong members, which I thought was pretty interesting,” Huang said.
The same scenario has occurred at the National Palace Museum, Alishan, Sun Moon Lake and other scenic spots that are on the “must-see” list for Chinese tourists, whose daily arrivals topped an average of 3,000 per day last month.
The floating dock at Syuanguang Temple (玄光寺), a tourist attraction at Sun Moon Lake, was reported to be on the verge of sinking last month when more than 500 Chinese tourists boarded the dock to get on shore.
“We had to build another floating dock within three days after we saw what happened that day,” said Tseng Kuo-chi (曾國基), director of the Sun Moon Lake National Scenic Area Administration, adding that he could not imagine what the consequences would have been had they not noticed it.
Taipei City Government said in a press release this month that it added 27 parking spaces for large tour buses at Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall because of the increase in Chinese tourists.
The city also changed some of the temporary parking spaces on Songkao (松高) and Songyung (松勇) roads into large spaces for tour buses to ease traffic congestion caused by Chinese tourists heading to Taipei 101.
The growth in tourism from China has also produced other issues, manifesting themselves in several other isolated incidents.
A tour group from Dalien, Liaoning Province, was sent home for not having valid entry permits.
The quality of guided tours at the National Palace Museum were also questioned when TV news reports showed footage of Chinese tourists swarming the exhibition room of the jadeite cabbage with insects (翠玉白菜). The National Palace Museum should arrange separate proceeding routes for tour groups and individual visitors, he said.
In a separate incident, 282 tourists from Zhejiang Province were stranded at the airport because its agent failed to secure enough buses for the tour. Three Chinese tourists died in a construction accident while traveling near Taipei 101, and two Chinese tourists were injured by falling rocks when visiting Taroko National Park.
Just as the nation was coping with the consequences of these two tragic events, Premier Liu Chao-hsuen (劉兆玄) said the Executive Yuan was considering allowing Chinese tourists to travel as individuals.
Lee Ming-huei (李銘輝), president of Taiwan Hospitality and Tourism College, said that problems exposed through these incidents showed that the nation was not ready for such a drastic change in the tourism industry.
“The government first required that each Chinese tourist be charged no less than US$80 per day. It changed that to US$60 per day, but we have already heard of some travel agencies who can provide tours for just just US$45 a day. How can travel agencies make a profit out of a trip that costs only NT$1,500 a day? They seek the profits by arranging shopping tours,” Lee said.
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