Greater Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊) yesterday defended her government’s policies to attract Chinese tourists and said Kaohsiung was preparing itself for independent Chinese travelers.
Chen said on the floor of the Greater Kaohsiung City Council that the city had been drawing up itineraries for independent Chinese travelers.
“The city is always happy to greet visitors from China,” Chen said.
Photo: Chang Chung-i, Taipei Times
Taiwan and China have been negotiating to allow independent travelers from China to visit Taiwan. Currently Chinese visitors are only permitted to visit by joining tour groups.
Chen’s defense came after criticism from local tourism industry representatives and Council Speaker — Hsu Kun-yuan (許崑源) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) — that the city government had not made sufficient effort to attract Chinese tourists or launched a campaign in China to promote Greater Kaohsiung.
The representatives visited Hsu at the council on Monday, urging Hsu to help bring more Chinese tourists to the city.
During the meeting, Hsu accused the city government of being blinded by political ideology and failing to compete for Chinese tourists.
The speaker lashed out at the city government over the fact that the city will only have six cross-strait charter flights during the Lunar New Year holidays.
Hsu said he was willing to step up and promote Kaohsiung, along with other KMT city councilors.
“We need to let Chinese nationals know that Kaohsiung residents are friendly,” Hsu said, adding that he would urge the central government to hold the eighth round of cross-strait talks in Kaohsiung.
Chen yesterday said she had previously told Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) that she was dissatisfied with the limited number of cross-strait charter flights to and from Kaohsiung.
Chen said the city’s Tourism Bureau director, Chen Sheng-shan (陳盛山), had just returned to Kaohsiung after concluding a promotional trip to Beijing and Hong Kong.
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