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Taiwan tourism sector set for mainland wave

By Xing Zhigang (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-07-08 09:57

A tour group from the Chinese mainland poses for a photo on Saturday beside the Love River in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. The visitors are among the more than 750 mainland tourists on a 10-day inaugural mainland group tour of the island.  [China Daily]

When more than 40 mainland tourists swarmed into his Hsiang-hsi Restaurant near the Sun Moon Lake for lunch on Sunday, Chang Shui-yuen started getting nervous.

The restaurant near the popular tourist attraction in central Taiwan found it difficult to keep up with the crowd.

Chang had to rope in his son and daughter to help serve dishes.

"I have been expecting more mainland tourists," said Chang, 61, a native of Nantou.

"But now that they are here, I suddenly feel we don't have enough time on our hands."

The restaurant owner was referring to the arrival of the first mainland tour group to the island on Friday, in what has been hailed as a milestone in closer cross-Straits exchanges.

More than 750 mainland tourists from five cities - Beijing, Shanghai, Xiamen, Nanjing and Guangzhou - landed in Taiwan on a weekend charter flight, the first of regular cross-Straits ones in almost six decades.

Taiwan has restricted trade and travel with the mainland since 1949, but the island's new leader, Ma Ying-jeou, has helped open doors to warmer ties.

In a sign of rapprochement, the two sides last month held their first direct talks in a decade and signed agreements to launch the flights and triple the number of mainland people allowed to visit the island to 3,000 daily.

Chang said his restaurant is expected to double its income with the increase in mainland tourists.

He is one of the 100,000 people working in the island's tourism sector who are expected to benefit from the travel arrangement, which will be officially implemented on July 18.

Taiwan Association of Travel Agents Chairman Yao Ta-kuang estimated that 3,000 mainland visitors arriving daily will bring in 60 billion Taiwan dollars ($1.97 billion) annually.

A recent industry poll also forecast that the mainland tourist arrangement will help generate an annual average growth of 12 percent in Taiwan's tourism revenue in the coming three years, compared with a yearly growth of 5 percent over the past three years.

The revenue will benefit half a million people in all service-related sectors on the island and 2 million people, if their family members are included, Yao said.

Henry Tsang, a sales supervisor with the China Times Travel Service, said the latest travel arrangement is a much-needed boost for the island's sagging economy, including its slow-growing tourism industry.

Last year, the number of travelers to Taiwan reportedly stood at only 3.7 million, in stark contrast with the 28 million Hong Kong had.

Due to Taipei's restriction on travel for mainland tourists, only 300,000 mainlanders visited Taiwan last year. The number of mainland Chinese who visited Hong Kong last year was 15 million.

"It's significant for us. We cannot afford to lose the opportunity if we want to revitalize our economy," Tsang said.

To make it convenient for mainland tourists to spend and shop on the island, Taiwan on June 30 allowed its banks to trade in renminbi, the mainland currency.

The central bank allowed 13 banks and their 1,500 branches to buy and sell renminbi and permitted 50 airport duty-free shops, hotels and tourist resorts to accept renminbi from mainland tourists.

Some Taiwan hotels and tourist destinations have also provided mainland tour groups with introductions and pamphlets in simplified Chinese, which is forbidden on the island.

Local media reported that the Tainan county government had even authorized hotels in the county to independently decide whether to fly the five-star national flag of the People's Republic of China if they want to please mainland tourists.

Chang Shui-yuen, like other restaurateurs, has begun to study eating habits of mainlanders from different regions in a bid to attract them.

"I have learned from reading books and talking with a number of tourist guides that Sichuan people love spicy food, people from southern provinces like delicate and sweet dishes, and those from northern provinces take more salt in their cuisine," Chang said.

A number of local hotels and restaurants have also sent their chefs on study trips in the mainland.

Zhang Beiying, vice-chairman of the China International Travel Service Group Corporation, thought highly of the hospitality and the efforts of his Taiwan counterparts to treat the mainland tourists.

"All members of the inaugural tour group have felt the warmth and sincerity of our hosts here," said Zhang.

He said the enthusiasm among mainland tourists has been extremely high.

In Guangdong province, which has been given a quota of 100 participants for the inaugural tour group, said the number of applicants had exceeded 10,000.

More than 50 million mainland people have expressed their wish to visit Taiwan, a recent mainland survey found.

That means it will take 50 years for Taiwan to absorb all the potential visitors if the current daily quota of 3,000 remains unchanged.