Local travel agencies yesterday painted a conservative outlook on the business opportunities that the opening up of the nation to Chinese tourists would bring, citing Beijing’s cap on the number of Chinese tourists allowed to visit Taiwan and a minimum spending requirement.
“Compared with trips to Europe, where tourists spend US$120 per night on average, several Chinese travel agencies have complained that our charges are too high,” Jack Lin (林健興), manager of the domestic tour department at Southeast Travel Service Co (東南旅行社), said yesterday.
The Tourism Bureau requires Chinese tourists to spend a minimum of US$80 per night, which would add up to US$560 for an eight days, seven nights tour.
However, Phoenix Tours International Inc (鳳凰旅行社) general manager Anthony Liao (廖文澄) said the minimum was acceptable.
The company offers three different pricing packages for a 10-day tour, ranging from US$800 to US$1,200.
Although the government has set a limit of 3,000 Chinese tourists per day, the Beijing government permits only 1,000 Chinese tourists to visit the nation per day.
Lion Travel Service Co (雄獅旅行社) said it was difficult to estimate the business opportunities that the Chinese tourists would bring because of the restrictions and the government’s “ever-changing” policy.
“Lion Travel Service is more conservative about the Chinese tourist market. We think that it will take at least another three months for the situation to become clearer,” said Roxy Luo (羅旭亭), a public relations official at Lion Travel Service.
Minister of Transportation and Communications Mao Chi-kuo (毛治國) said on Thursday that whether the launch of cross-strait charter flights would help boost the nation’s economy required “further observation.”
ANOTHER EMERGES: The CWA yesterday said this year’s fourth storm of the typhoon season had formed in the South China Sea, but was not expected to affect Taiwan Tropical Storm Gaemi has intensified slightly as it heads toward Taiwan, where it is expected to affect the country in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 8am yesterday, the 120km-radius storm was 800km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving at 9kph northwest, the agency said. A sea warning for Gaemi could be issued tonight at the earliest, it said, adding that the storm is projected to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday or Thursday. Gaemi’s potential effect on Taiwan remains unclear, as that would depend on its direction, radius and intensity, forecasters said. Former Weather Forecast
As COVID-19 cases in Japan have been increasing for 10 consecutive weeks, people should get vaccinated before visiting the nation, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said. The centers reported 773 hospitalizations and 124 deaths related to COVID-19 in Taiwan last week. CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) on Tuesday said the number of weekly COVID-19 cases reported in Japan has been increasing since mid-May and surpassed 55,000 cases from July 8 to July 14. The average number of COVID-19 patients at Japan’s healthcare facilities that week was also 1.39 times that of the week before and KP.3 is the dominant
The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) working group for Taiwan-related policies is likely to be upgraded to a committee-level body, a report commissioned by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said. As Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is increasingly likely to upgrade the CCP’s Central Leading Group for Taiwan Affairs, Taiwanese authorities should prepare by researching Xi and the CCP, the report said. At the third plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the CCP, which ended on Thursday last week, the party set a target of 2029 for the completion of some tasks, meaning that Xi is likely preparing to
US-CHINA TRADE DISPUTE: Despite Beijing’s offer of preferential treatment, the lure of China has dimmed as Taiwanese and international investors move out Japan and the US have become the favored destinations for Taiwanese graduates as China’s attraction has waned over the years, the Ministry of Labor said. According to the ministry’s latest income and employment advisory published this month, 3,215 Taiwanese university graduates from the class of 2020 went to Japan, surpassing for the first time the 2,881 graduates who went to China. A total of 2,300 graduates from the class of 2021 went to the US, compared with the 2,262 who went to China, the document showed. The trend continued for the class of 2023, of whom 1,460 went to Japan, 1,334 went to