The government should work with travel agencies on “smarter” tourism and seek to turn a crisis into gain, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday.
Chu accused President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) administration of failing to implement efficient tourism policies, which he said would lead to Taiwan failing to develop a trillion-dollar tourism industry and generating NT$30 billion (US$986.7 million) in income from tourism per year.
Chu said that Taiwanese in 2019 spent NT$20.5 billion on overseas travel, more than that year’s combined income of firms engaged in domestic tourism of NT$14.4 billion.
Photo: Chang Chia-ming, Taipei Times
Chu said that under the previous KMT administration, foreign tourism grew 15 to 16 percent per year, but growth since 2017 has slowed to 2 to 3 percent.
The nation’s competitiveness in attracting tourists has dropped from 32nd in the world to 37th, while the nation’s regional competitors — Japan, Singapore, South Korea and Thailand — have seen rapid growth, he said.
This is a serious issue for the Tsai administration, Chu said.
Taiwan has not effectively marketed its Chinese cultural background, its indigenous cultures or local cuisine, while foreign media described the nation as a “pedestrian hell,” Chu said.
Programs implemented by the Tsai administration to stimulate domestic travel do not meet the needs of Taiwanese, he said, adding that domestic travelers on average spend 1.47 days at their destination, while international travelers spend 6.76 days.
‘TWENTY CHINESE CITIES’
Chu urged the Tsai administration to work to increase the number of cities in China that offer direct flights to Taiwan to 20 from four to make it easier for Chinese to travel to Taiwan.
Beijing has said it is willing to work with Taiwan on facilitating travel, Chu said.
The Tsai administration should not be blinded by ideology and should welcome tourists from all nations, including China, he added.
The Tsai administration’s goal to entice 6 million foreign and 1 million Chinese tourists to travel to Taiwan this year is an empty slogan as long as it does not work to increase the number of flight connections, Chu said.
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