A group from the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday suggested that Taiwan's ban on Chinese tourists should be initially be lifted for affluent people from certain big cities in China, an idea which mirrors the plan proposed by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC).
The group, led by the party's Policy Committee convener Tseng Yung-chuan (曾永權), brought up the idea while meeting with the officials of China's Taiwan Affairs Office. The group left for Beijing on Wednesday hoping to help push through the opening up of Taiwan's to Chinese tourists as soon as possible.
"The aim of creating the restriction for tourists from cities in China is to ensure the quality of their trips to Taiwan," Tseng said.
Ensuring the quality of trips made by Chinese tourists is also the government's wish, with the president of Leofoo Development Co, a local travel business, Sean Chuang (莊秀石) saying that the MAC has already asked local travel operators to map out trip schedules for Chinese tourists under the guideline of "high-quality."
The way to ensure that the quality is high for Chinese visitors is to set a minimum price for the trips, Chuang said, noting that it is also an effective way to prevent the problem of illegal overstays, as more well-off Chinese will not be interested in staying in Taiwan.
The head of China's Taiwan Affairs Office, Chen Yunlin (陳雲林), told the KMT group that Beijing is ready to talk with Taiwan about the tourist issue, while Fu Don-cheng (傅棟成), director of the MAC's department of economic affairs said that the necessary arrangements for cross-strait tourism were under way.
In related news, a group of about 60 people, lead by Shao Qiwei (邵琪偉), director of China's National Tourism Administration, is scheduled to arrive in Taiwan next Friday. The move is seen as a step toward the opening of Taiwan to Chinese tourists and the MAC is expected to review the group's application in the next few days.
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