TAIPEI - Representatives of Taiwan and
mainland China will sit down at the negotiation
table as early as mid-September to decide on
opening the island to tourists from the mainland,
a possible breakthrough that will lift the
decades-long ban after years of back-channel
talks.
However, travel agents in Taiwan remain cautious,
having experienced years of disappointments. Many
are also concerned
whether the industry has the
self-discipline to avoid vicious competition
through price wars that would damage the quality
of services.
"They have been talking about
this so many times. I am not sure if things will
come true this time," said Wang Jie, manager of
Kaohsiung-based travel agency Chang Ku. Tsai
Feng-lung, section director of Taipei-based
Richmond Tours, further noted that "politics
create a lot of uncertainties".
As things
stand now, some 365,000 mainlanders are expected
to visit Taiwan annually once the current ban is
officially lifted - 1,000 per day.
Hotels,
meanwhile, are gearing up to meet competition.
Some 46 new hotels, including 36 international
tourist hotels, are under construction or planning
to expand.
Because of concerns over
national security, the Taiwanese government has
set high criteria for local travel agencies
interested in engaging in the mainland-origin
tourism business. Only those travel agencies that
have been in business for at least five years and
have paid a NT$1 million (US$30,390) deposit are
eligible to participate. Currently, 121 Taiwanese
travel agencies qualify.
Tourists'
overstaying their visas - the duration is four-10
days - in Taiwan will lead to the temporary
suspension of the agency's mainlander business,
anywhere from one month to one year, depending on
the number of the overstayers.
To control
service quality and reduce national-security
risks, Taiwan's Tourism Bureau has designated 10
routes for the Chinese tour groups to follow, and
has categorized prices into three levels based on
the rating of the hotels. Five-star-hotel tours
will cost about US$120 per day and three-star ones
will be about US$80 per day.
Believing
that tourists from the mainland are really coming,
Phoenix Tour, one of the leading travel agents in
Taiwan, has already expanded its inbound service
section. Liao Wen-chen, chief executive officer of
Phoenix, said his goal is to handle 10,000
mainland Chinese tourists each year; his company
will focus on five-star services.
Taiwan
started planning to open up to mainland Chinese
tourists in 2001. However, negotiations bogged
down as there are differing opinions on how to
conduct the actual process. Taiwan hoped to keep
shifting the channel back to
government-to-government, but Beijing insisted on
non-governmental dialogues.
Finally, after
years of back-channel interactions, mainland China
founded the Cross-Strait Tourism Association, and
Taiwan followed the move by founding the Taiwan
Strait Traveling and Tourism Association last
Sunday. Though ostensibly a private organization,
the process is still dominated by the governments.
Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council (MAC)
said the two sides will mainly focus on
non-political technical issues, including the
verification of Chinese tourist identities, the
repatriation formula for absconding tourists and
the treatment of travel disputes. Once agreements
are reached in these areas, the associations will
deal with the details.
Hsu Wen-sheng,
director of Taiwan's Tourism Bureau, reportedly
said that bureau deputy director general Lai
Se-chen will represent Taiwan, and Zhang Xichin,
deputy director of China's National Tourism
Administration, will be her counterpart. But, MAC
said, there's no final decision on the
negotiation's location and timetable.
Meanwhile, Taiwan is busy planning on
creating a mechanism that will allow mainland
Chinese tourists to exchange the yuan into the
Taiwanese currency after their arrivals.
The Taiwan side calculates that the time
for reaching a decision is propitious, Beijing
might be too busy to deal with the issue next year
because of the Chinese Communist Party's 17th
Congress. Therefore, the upcoming months should be
a good time for Taiwan to settle the tourist
issue, said an MAC official.
Beijing
currently allows its citizens to visit 81
countries. Some 36 million Chinese are estimated
to have ventured overseas since China started to
allow its citizens freedom to travel in 1983.
Taiwan, meanwhile, is still not one of the 81
approved destinations, thereby making it illegal
for mainland Chinese tourists to visit Taiwan.
Optimistically planning a banquet to
welcome the first Chinese tour groups, Sean
Chuang, chairman of Taiwan's Leofoo Group, which
owns the Westin Taipei and is also a board member
of the newly founded association, is delighted to
see Taiwanese authorities move on this matter.
"Things will be easier after the two
associations are established," he said, noting
that he believes the first tour group from the
mainland could set foot in Taiwan as soon as the
end of this year. Ting-I Tsai is a
freelance writer based in Taipei.
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