STARTING next month, Chinese nationals will be able to avail of visas for independent travel to Taiwan from 11 mainland cities, up from three. However, Taiwanese travel consultants are not hopeful of a big boost in business just as yet.
As it stands, neither the Taiwan Strait Tourism Association nor its mainland Chinese counterpart, the Cross-Strait Tourism Association, have revealed which eight cities will be added to the list approved for FIT travel, which currently includes Shanghai, Beijing and Xiamen.
“This is a big story in the media because it is political, but we won’t see an impact for months or a year. It is going to need time,” said Jean Chang, president, Golden Foundation Tours Taiwan, who added that Chinese FITs don’t require much help except in applying for an entry permit or obtaining a guarantor letter.
“It will help hotels, restaurants and other travel-related businesses, but not travel agencies,” said Vincent Lin, CEO, Star Travel Corporation Taiwan.
Phoenix Tours Taiwan president, Antonio Liao, said his company had seen little business from the first wave of Chinese FITs to Taiwan, and estimates that “less than 20 per cent use Taiwan travel agencies to book hotels or arrange airport pick-ups”.
He observed that they were looking for mid-priced rather than five-star hotels, and most were not keen on package tours.
Liao believes that the Taiwan Tourism Bureau, which administers star ratings for local hotels, may eventually try to steer Chinese FITs towards higher-priced accommodations by restricting them to officially-approved hotels.
Reporting by Glenn Smith
