Resorts dream of Chinese tourists

When the Hualien Ocean Park (花蓮海洋公園) opens, developer Patrick Luo thinks many of the tourists who will stroll by the dolphin lagoon and laugh at the seal shows will be people once deemed too dangerous to visit Taiwan: visitors from China.

Like many others in Taiwan's struggling tourism industry, Luo is eager for the government to end a five-decade ban on tourist visits from China -- a move officials say they are willing to try on an experimental basis.

"We think that about 25 percent of our customers will come from the mainland," Luo said, facing the theme park's construction site.

The 381-room Victorian-style hotel will wrap around a ravine, offering views of the Pacific's crashing waves and the city of Hualien when it opens next summer.

The nearby Promised Land Resort is also counting on about 25 percent of its business coming from China, said David Chen, an executive assistant in the project that includes two golf courses, an amusement park and a 750-room hotel complex.

The Taiwanese have long worried that Chinese tourists might actually be spies or saboteurs who would disappear after arriving.

Some Taiwanese, especially pro-independence supporters, fear Taiwan will be slowly absorbed by China or overrun by mainlanders if tourism ties begin.

"It'll be like the attack of the killer ants. How terrifying," said Lee Yung-chih, a history professor at the National Taiwan University.

But these worries are costing Taiwan a lot of money -- funds desperately needed as it tries to restructure its economy. The government now believes the risks can be managed.

This subtropical island would seem to be a natural vacation spot for mainlanders. It's close -- about an hour flight from Shanghai and three hours from Beijing. And both sides speak Mandarin, eat similar food and share the same ethnic-Chinese culture.

"Taiwan can become China's Hawaii," said Wang Ying-chieh (王應傑), head of the Small and Medium Business Association, which is pressuring the government to open up to Chinese tourists.

Many Chinese already know about Taiwan's sights: the mountain range that runs down the island's middle, southern beaches where people can swim year round and Taipei with its popular restaurants.

Chen Yiqing, 27, is one person eager to see Taiwan. The Shanghai advertising saleswoman has already toured Thailand, Malaysia and Hong Kong. Now, she wants to see Taiwan's theaters, museums and tea houses.

"Unlike Hong Kong's shopping streets and Thailand's bars, you can feel culture from every corner in Taiwan," Chen said.

Last month, officials drafted a new policy for allowing Chinese tourist visits. Only 1,000 would be allowed to arrive daily, adding up to 360,000 a year -- about 13 percent of total tourist visits, said Su Cheng-tien (蘇成田), deputy director general of the Tourism Bureau.

To manage the security risk, the Chinese would have travel with a tour group and stay no more than 14 days, Su said.

Officials hoped to begin welcoming tourists this summer, but there was a hitch: Taiwan insisted both sides needed to discuss such issues as how to handle tourists who work illegally, leave their tour group, overstay their visa or commit crimes.

Beijing has refused to talk to Taiwan until President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) addresses some political disputes.

But Taiwan is willing to agree to something less than formal negotiations if tourists first come on an "experimental basis," said Mainland Affairs Council Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文).