The Tourism Administration yesterday confirmed that tour operators from China’s Fujian Province had postponed their visits to Lienchiang County (Matsu) due to a scheduling conflict, but would not need to reapply for entry permits if they choose to enter the nation at a later date.
Tour operators from Fuzhou City were scheduled to arrive in Matsu on Monday to scout for potential travel routes, after the Chinese Ministry of Culture and Tourism on April 28 announced that residents of Fujian Province would be allowed to travel to the outlying island.
Residents could travel to Taiwan proper once the ferry service between the province’s Pingtan City and Taiwan is resumed, it said.
Photo: Tsai Ssu-pei, Taipei Times
The local tourism industry has viewed the trip as the beginning of normal cross-strait tourism exchanges, but the Fuzhou City Travel Association wrote a letter to the Matsu Tourism Association saying that it had to postpone the trip, as the city had important celebratory events during the Dragon Boat Festival long weekend.
“Our position of welcoming Chinese tourists remains unchanged. They need not reapply for entry permits if they come at a later date,” Tourism Administration Deputy Director-General Trust Lin (林信任) told reporters on the sidelines of a news conference promoting tours to Matsu.
Minister of Transportation and Communications Li Meng-yen (李孟諺) said on a separate occasion that he hoped the tour operators would still visit Matsu despite the trip being unavoidably postponed.
“We hope that cross-strait travel would resume in a gradual and equitable manner,” Li told reporters before attending a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee in Taipei. “Taiwan has allowed individuals to travel to China, and tours to China that were arranged before the group tour ban was reintroduced are permitted to go, too. Compared with China, we are open to cross-strait tourism.”
As of Monday, about 3.45 million international tourists had visited Taiwan so far this year, Li said, citing data from the National Immigration Agency.
“We still aim to attract 10 million international visitors this year, and are focusing marketing campaigns on Northeast Asia, Southeast Asia and North America in the second half of this year,” he said.
The government is to open tourism offices in Vancouver and Manila this year, he said.
To comply with the New Southbound Policy, Li said that the ministry would ask that the visa-waiver program for Filipino and Thai visitors be continued, and tourism campaigns be intensified among Muslim tourists and the rising middle class in Southeast Asia.
“China is preparing to invade Taiwan,” Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an exclusive interview with British media channel Sky News for a special report titled, “Is Taiwan ready for a Chinese invasion?” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today in a statement. The 25-minute-long special report by Helen Ann-Smith released yesterday saw Sky News travel to Penghu, Taoyuan and Taipei to discuss the possibility of a Chinese invasion and how Taiwan is preparing for an attack. The film observed emergency response drills, interviewed baseball fans at the Taipei Dome on their views of US President
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a "tsunami watch" alert after a magnitude 8.7 earthquake struck off the Kamchatka Peninsula in northeastern Russia earlier in the morning. The quake struck off the east coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula at 7:25am (Taiwan time) at a depth of about 19km, the CWA said, citing figures from the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center. The CWA's Seismological Center said preliminary assessments indicate that a tsunami could reach Taiwan's coastal areas by 1:18pm today. The CWA urged residents along the coast to stay alert and take necessary precautions as waves as high as 1m could hit the southeastern
The National Museum of Taiwan Literature is next month to hold an exhibition in Osaka, Japan, showcasing the rich and unique history of Taiwanese folklore and literature. The exhibition, which is to run from Aug. 10 to Aug. 20 at the city’s Central Public Hall, is part of the “We Taiwan” at Expo 2025 series, highlighting Taiwan’s cultural ties with the international community, National Museum of Taiwan Literature director Chen Ying-fang (陳瑩芳) said. Folklore and literature, among Taiwan’s richest cultural heritages, naturally deserve a central place in the global dialogue, Chen said. Taiwan’s folklore would be immediately apparent at the entrance of the
ECONOMIC BENEFITS: The imports from Belize would replace those from Honduras, whose shrimp exports have dropped 67 percent since cutting ties in 2023 Maintaining ties with Taiwan has economic benefits, Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials said yesterday, citing the approval of frozen whiteleg shrimp imports from Belize by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as an example. The FDA on Wednesday approved the tariff-free imports from Belize after the whiteleg shrimp passed the Systematic Inspection of Imported Food, which would continue to boost mutual trade, the ministry said. Taiwan’s annual consumption of whiteleg shrimps stands at 30,000 tonnes, far exceeding domestic production, the ministry said. Taiwan used to fill the gap by importing shrimps from Honduras, but purchases slumped after Tegucigalpa severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan
RSS