Tourism, a Bridge to Friendship--An Interview with Tourism Bureau Head Janice Lai

In April 2006, mainland China promulgated its Regulations Governing the Travel of Mainland Residents to the Taiwan Region, which require mainland visitors to enter and leave Taiwan in groups and conduct their activities in Taiwan as groups. With this principle in mind, Taiwan has opened up its borders to mainland tour groups. The fact is that to this day, the mainland authorities only permit mainland residents to travel as individuals to Hong Kong and Macao. They are required to travel in tour groups anywhere else they go outside mainland China.

Taiwan opened its borders in 2002 to certain categories of mainland tourists, including those arriving indirectly from a third country, and those living or studying abroad. The National Immigration Agency recorded more than 293,000 traveling to Taiwan between 2002 and May 2008. Of these, 119 visitors left their tour groups and 22 of those remain unaccounted for. The percentage of visitors that did not remain with their tour groups was only 0.04% of the total-much lower than the 0.17% of mainland Chinese visitors to Japan and the 13.9% of visitors to South Korea. Yet this policy is the subject of sharp criticism.

Members of opposition parties are concerned that mainland Chinese missiles are still pointed at Taiwan. If you think about it, however, wouldn't the mainland government think twice before using them with some 3,000 of its citizens traveling around Taiwan on any given day?

Our control measures are very good, but some people in Taiwan are still worried. Before a consensus is reached in our society, we are taking as many opinions under consideration as we can. As such we are requiring mainland tourists to "come and go as a group" as we feel this serves as a cautious expedient measure with which to start.

Because the vast majority of the world's tourists travel as individuals, the Tourism Bureau encourages it strongly. Almost all travelers from places like Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, and Japan book their tickets and accommodations through travel agencies, and on arriving in Taiwan they depend on travel information to go where they want to go and to do what they want to do. The Tourism Bureau is just an executive agency. Any decisions to allow independent travel in Taiwan by mainland residents will require assessment and further negotiation by the Straits Exchange Foundation and the Association for Relations across the Taiwan Strait.

The mainland's thriving economy cannot be ignored. Investments in the hotel industry rely on certain market strategies and they can further enhance the quality of Taiwan's overall tourist infrastructure. However, I frequently call on the industry to take a broader view, to look internationally and not to just focus on business from mainland China. After all, it is a highly sensitive market from a political standpoint, so you shouldn't put all your eggs in one basket.

With the opening up of cross-strait tourist exchanges, we shouldn't think about everything from the vantage point of economic benefits. The reason the governments in Taiwan and mainland China have worked hard to open this door is to increase understanding and build a bridge of communication that will serve to bring harmony to cross-strait relations. The people of Taiwan should not be overly concerned about whether mainland tourists will "spend money in my shop"; rather, they should take a broader view. Tourism can give mainland residents the opportunity to genuinely interact with Taiwan.

Some in the tourism industry are concerned that their mainland counterparts might set up travel agencies in Taiwan and corner the market. At present, mainland Chinese cannot invest in Taiwan's tourism industry. Our government has worked hard; it's not about to hand over all those hard-earned economic benefits to the mainland on a platter. We will protect Taiwan's industry.

I'm very clear about the industry's thinking and possible concerns. As such, we have set a cap of 200 on the number of mainland tourists that each travel agency can receive a day. We will watch whether anybody is exceeding these caps. If we find that a small number of travel agencies are hogging most of the tour groups, we will work to level the playing field. As long as everybody applies themselves and offers good products, they will have the opportunity to make money.