A group of travel agency operators from Beijing arrived in Taiwan yesterday to tour Aboriginal villages and assess their potential as attractions for sightseers from China.
The 36-member delegation, led by Beijing Tourism Bureau Director An Jinming (安金明), met Non-Partisan Solidarity Union Legislator May Chin (高金素梅) to discuss tours to Aboriginal villages.
Chin said the group's visit would pave the way for the first group of Chinese visitors to tour rural areas early next year.
“Such tours will definitely help boost the sagging economies of the Aboriginal communities,” she said.
Chin said the group's current tour of Taiwan was the result of a visit by her and a 100-member Taiwanese Aboriginal group to Beijing in August, during which she and Beijing Mayor Guo Jinlong (郭金龍) discussed launching sightseeing tours to indigenous communities in Taiwan.
An said his delegation hoped to get a broader picture of rural life in Taiwan.
“I hope we can gain a better understanding of Taiwan's minorities and their communities so that we can advise travel agencies on the possibility of tours to Aboriginal villages,” An said.
He said that since Taiwan last year began allowing visits by larger numbers of Chinese sightseers, “tourism between the two sides has gone beyond pure leisure to a cultural experience.”
An said his group was also looking to explore the concept of homestay tourism in Taiwan, adding that it had become an increasingly popular trend in the greater Beijing area in recent years.
There are about 20,000 households in 344 villages in the greater Beijing area that offer homestays, he said.
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