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Taiwan gears up for mainland visitors

(CCTV.com)
Updated: 2008-05-04 09:58

Taiwan's newly elected leader Ma Ying-jeou is applauding the arrival of Chinese mainland tourists, saying they will give a big boost to Taiwan's economy. Insiders are also calling for better services to capitalize on the huge business opportunity.

Taiwan's newly elected leader Ma Ying-jeou is applauding the arrival of Chinese mainland tourists. [Agencies]

Taiwan is scheduled to open up to mainland visitors in July. Ma Ying-jeou said the influx of mainland tourists is expected to create a large amount of job opportunities for Taiwan residents.

Ma Ying-jeou said, "Twenty-five mainland tourists will provide us a job opportunity. In this way, we are expected to cut down our unemployment rate below the current three percent."

Ma Ying-jeou also promised to fulfill his commitment to launch weekend charter flights across the Taiwan Straits in July.

Although Ma Ying-jeou has yet to be sworn in, the local tourism industry is readying itself for some very lucrative business. Newly-built hotels and scenic spots are introducing simplified Chinese all are set to cater for mainland tourists.

Ma Ying-jeou said, "Our restaurants will launch a special meal set for mainland tourists. It includes all the favored dishes by Chiang Kai-shek and his son when they visited our restaurants."

Industry insiders say Taiwan has more than enough capacity to accommodate 3-thousand mainland visitors every day starting in July. They estimate it will bring about 66 billion New Taiwan dollars in cash income annually. That's over 16 billion yuan. To really grab a bite of the big cake, insiders are calling for better services.

Zhang Xuelao, Chairman of Taiwan Visitors Association, said, "How can we improve our service quality to satisfy the first arrivals of mainland tourists is crucial. If we couldn't ensure them a comfortable tour, there might be few visitors in the future. So quality really counts a lot."

You Guoqian, Vice Board Chairman of Janfusun LTD, said, "We have to realize that people across the Straits have deep-rooted connections. We have to change our minds to provide friendly, polite and considerate services to attract mainland tourists."

Taiwan tourism authorities have required all hotels and restaurants to provide menus with simplified Chinese characters and to train their staff to better serve mainland visitors.

Tourism officials say they are dedicated to safeguarding traveller's safety and improving the quality of their travel. They have approved 142 travel agents to receive mainland visitors, and 122 of them have signed tourism self-discipline pacts.