Taiwan on Thursday announced an easing of restrictions on business trips and organized tourist trips from mainland China, as part of a strategy to revitalize tourist exchanges on both sides of the strait.
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Taiwan reopened its borders to tourism in October after the Covid-19 crisis, except for travelers from mainland China.
The Mainland China Business Council, the Taiwanese government agency responsible for Beijing-Taipei relations, announced “easing restrictions” on business trips from mainland China starting Monday.
Individual Chinese citizens can also apply to travel to Taiwan from another country starting Sept. 1, spokesman Jan Jyh-horng said.
“We will also allow Chinese tour groups to come to Taiwan, but initially with a maximum limit of 2,000 people per day,” Jan added.
Organized trips for Chinese groups will resume in a month to allow for “preparation time,” but the spokesman did not give a specific date.
“Taiwan tour groups can travel to China, but the initial number has been capped at 2,000 due to reciprocity,” Jan said.
Currently, only individual Taiwanese travelers can travel to China as the island does not allow its nationals to participate in organized tours there.
Asked whether this about-face is in line with a desire to calm very strained relations with Beijing, Mr Jan replied that Taipei hopes to “relaunch exchanges between the two parties at all levels”.
“We decided today to announce our group travel policy. We have taken the first step and hope they (the Chinese) will respond positively,” he said.
Since the election of President Tsai Ing-wen of an Independence Party in 2016, Taiwan has seen a sharp decline in tourist travel from China.
Chinese tourists made up more than a third of the industry before the Covid-19 pandemic, according to Ringo Lee, president of a Taiwanese tour operator association.
“The current situation is not healthy and has nothing to do with Covid-19,” he said, saying the measures announced were very inadequate. “We need more (Chinese tourists), the tourism sector is suffering,” he said.
Relations between Beijing and Taipei deteriorated in 2016 with the inauguration of Tsai Ing-wen as president, with Beijing increasing political and military pressure on the island in recent years.
China regards Taiwan as part of its territory and has declared its willingness to one day seize it by force if necessary.