Thursday, April 14, 2011

No date set for opening to individual mainland Chinese tourists: MAC

Taipei, April 14 (CNA) The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said Thursday that there has been no precise date set for allowing independent mainland Chinese tourists to enter Taiwan, but added that it will be no later than July 1.

A local media report that individual mainland Chinese tourists will be allowed entry from the Dragon Boat Festival holiday on June 6 with the maximum daily number of entries set at 500 was incorrect, MAC Vice Minister Liu Te-hsun said in a regular press briefing.

The MAC is Taiwan's top cross-strait policy-making body.

The Taiwan Strait Tourism Association and the Cross-Strait Tourism Exchange Association, organizations authorized by Taipei and Beijing, respectively, to deal with tourism exchange affairs, are still hammering out the details, he said.

At the moment, tourists from mainland China can only enter Taiwan as part of a tour group with a maximum of 4,000 people allowed to enter the country per day.

Local tourism businesses are hoping for increased business opportunities as a result of the opening to individual Chinese tourists, especially in the area of medical tourism.

However, there are also concerns about the possibility of a dramatic increase in the number of mainland Chinese tourists who overstay their visas, and individual Chinese visitors might be required to pay a cash deposit upon entry, Liu said.

In addition, local travel agencies will face the challenges of rising costs and increased risk in accepting individual mainland Chinese tourists, Liu said. The government holds travel agents responsible for their clients and fines them if their charges overstay or abscond while in Taiwan. The agents will find it much more difficult to control and monitor the movements of independent tourists compared with dealing with groups. (By Chris Wang) ENDITEM/J