Tourism industry operators yesterday announced that they plan to march in Taipei on Monday next week, with as many as 20,000 people scheduled to demonstrate, as their businesses reel from a dramatic decline in the number of Chinese tourists.
A large drop in the number of Chinese tourists last month has further aggravated the crisis, they said.
Travel Agent Association spokesperson Ringo Lee (李奇嶽) said the operators of hotels, travel agencies and tour bus companies, as well as tour guides and other tourism-related businesses, have formed a self-help group, adding that they want to tell the government that the industry is facing a crisis and it needs an immediate remedy.
Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times
“We do not have any political appeal. All we want is the means to feed ourselves and our families, keep our jobs and survive,” he said.
Chinese visitors on package tours spend an average of 7.5 days in Taiwan, and are most likely to travel throughout the nation, Lee said. Apart from hotels, travel agencies, tour guides and tour bus operators, many bakeries, souvenir shops and restaurants have also suffered due to a decrease in the number of Chinese tourists.
The repercussions of such a decline were greater than what people had expected, he said, adding that the situation highlights the need to expand the domestic tourism market.
“The domestic tourism market sees 140 million travelers per year, with about 8 percent having their tours arranged by travel agencies. Only Taiwanese and Chinese tourists visit attractions in central, southern and eastern Taiwan,” Lee said.
“International travelers only spend an average of 3.5 days in Taiwan, with 80 percent remaining in the north,” he said, adding that more needs to be done to encourage travel beyond northern Taiwan.
Taiwan Tourist Hotel Association secretary-general Jessica Yu (尤敏華) said that while hoteliers support the government’s “new southbound policy,” it should not ignore the fact that most hotels have mainly received customers from China, adding that they need time to transition to a new customer base.
The occupancy rate of hotels in central and southern Taiwan has dropped to about 50 percent because of the decline in the number of Chinese tourists, she said.
Tourism and Luxury Boutique Association chairman Chang Ya-li (張雅俐) said souvenir shops help to create thousands of jobs and at times even loan travel agencies cash, adding that the industry’s plight would only get worse if cross-strait relations deteriorate.
Many souvenir shop owners are struggling to survive because of flagging business, Chang said, adding that many face layoffs or closure.
Even more travel agencies would go bankrupt if souvenir shops demanded payments from them, she said.
The number of tour buses has increased from 12,000 in 2008 to 16,000, and the additional 4,000 vehicles cater specifically to Chinese tourists, National Joint Association of Bus for Tourists executive director Chang Tien-tsai (張天財) said, adding that 80 percent of those 4,000 tour buses are not in use.
While the number of Chinese tour groups has fallen by 80 percent, tour bus owners still need to pay for loans on the vehicles, he added.
Tourist Guide Association chairman Wu Yong-yi (伍永益) said there are about 37,000 tour guides in the nation, with close to 78 percent of them being Chinese-speaking guides.
“In the past, there were about 10,000 Chinese-speaking tour guides actively working, and each could take three to four groups per month,” he said. “Only 2,000 of them are still in business, with some leading only one or two groups per month.”
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it