Another tourism ‘black eye’
A Taipei Times article about low-cost tour groups visiting Taiwan from China (“Chinese tour group debacles reinforce limits: minister,” Aug. 9, page 3) details an issue that represents another black eye for Taiwan.
The piece told of the stiff competition among operators of such tours. Since the people who take these tours are clearly not wealthy, the operators have to limit tour fees, especially in the face of competition from other travel agencies.
The “solution” was for travel agents to force the tour groups to visit “multiple shopping destinations and earn commissions from shop owners.” I somehow doubt these tourists came to Taiwan to visit endless stores.
In one disgusting incident, a Chinese woman was allegedly beaten for not shopping, thereby reducing the driver’s commission. I bet the driver will not be arrested, let alone face judicial proceedings and punishment. Sadly, Taiwan has a history of ignoring foreigners who are victims of Taiwanese.
As usual, there was nothing in the article about the police arresting the driver and as usual, the government shows its incompetence and lack of humanity. Its response to the incident? The number of such tours will not be increased, but remain “unchanged at 5,000 people per day.”
This is the extent of government expertise.
Instead of addressing the root causes of these problems, the Tourism Bureau decided “to restrict the number of shopping stops for Chinese tour groups,” although no number was given in the article.
Minister of Transportation and Communications Yeh Kuang-shih (葉匡時) blamed “malicious competition” for the issues, rather than government incompetence.
While he acknowledged that forcing tourists to shop should be investigated, his real concern was whether the stores were evading taxes or selling fake items.
The government said it would offer entry permits “first” to quality tours and raise the number of daily independent travelers from 4,000 to 5,000.
If Yeh’s wife were assaulted in China, I wonder if he would find equivalent measures taken by the authorities there acceptable.
Once again, Taiwan comes across as a land of greed. My best wishes to the assaulted tourist. I hope she sues the tour group and the driver winds up in jail (highly unlikely).
Chaim Melamed
Pingtung
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