On the morning of March 16, the four-story-tall luxury cruise ship Legend of the Seas pulled into Keelung Harbor to the sounds of gongs and drums. The Keelung City government and the Keelung Harbor Bureau organized performances by lion dancers and martial arts troupes to welcome employees of the Chinese branch of the direct marketing company Amway to Taiwan.

The Amway group is the mainlander tour of Taiwan with the most passengers since tourism was opened to Chinese in July of last year. It was also the first cruise ship to come since the opening of the "big three links." Between mid-March and May, there will be in total nine cruises for 12,000 outstanding Chinese Amway employees.

Crossing the strait

The first Amway group, consisting of 1,600 passengers, left Shanghai on the evening of March 14. After a trip of nearly 40 hours, it arrived at Keelung Harbor. The group spent the first day in Keelung and the second day in Hualien. From there it traveled to Taichung before heading home. In three short days, the group visited nine famous locations across Taiwan.

Though they slept on the ship and didn't pay for lodging in Taiwan, Amway estimates that the group as a whole spent more than NT$500 million in its brief stay. When passengers' own big-ticket purchases are added in, a conservative estimate of the figure is NT$620 million.

The purchasing power demonstrated by these tourists exceeded estimates. The Amway group snapped up everything in sight everywhere they went. Overjoyed shopkeepers said they were taking in so much money their hands were going limp. The farewell banquet at the Shuinan airport was especially extravagant at NT$40,000 a table, with lavish lighting, a fireworks show, and a performance by the singer Tsai Chin.

A step in the right direction?

The spending spree of the Amway group left a deep impression on Taiwanese, but there were two diametrically opposed responses.

Some people had an alarming feeling that the glory days of Taiwan's economy were over-the roles had reversed and it was now well-off mainlanders visiting Taiwan. Independence-minded types accused the mainlanders of being arrogant and uncouth. There were even reports that the cruise ship was shot at with BB guns, unnerving the Amway employees and causing the group that arrived on the 22nd to keep a lower profile.

On the other hand, there were also those who worried that a flood of mainlanders would make Taiwan's tourism and other industries over-reliant on China and China only.

But according to an online poll by the China Times, nearly half of respondents believed that the Amway was at least a small step in the right direction. Twenty-three percent believed that it served as a stimulus to the weak local economy. The remaining 30% believed that the effects only benefited a limited number of businesses and was no help to them.

Worth mentioning is that in addition to spending money, the first Amway group also donated NT$4 million to Taiwan's Sunshine Social Welfare Foundation. This move to help the disadvantaged reflected well on Amway and also represented a form of friendly interaction across the strait.

A better future

The experience of the largest tour group from the mainland to Taiwan can be seen as the first real test of Taiwan's tourism industry.

The results exposed much room for improvement. For example, the facilities at the ports were insufficient. Cruise ship passengers, who don't stay in hotels or arrive via an airport, have nowhere to exchange money. Without an agreement on foreign exchange settlements, the China UnionPay credit card, which holds nearly 90% of the Chinese market, still cannot be used in Taiwan. Some stores that don't accept Chinese Renminbi or credit cards lost out on a business opportunity. Important scenic spots like Alishan don't have enough parking. Tourist centers at the ports don't have duty-free shops. There are too few domestic tourist buses.

In addition to more Amway groups, it is said that there will be more similar large-scale company trips coming to Taiwan this year. Whether the mainland groups are "uncouth" or "a lifeline for the economy" Taiwan must face the challenge, using this opportunity to improve itself and rush to meet international standards in its own culture, society, environment, and tourism.