Taiwan setting up group to negotiate expanded tourism
(AP)
Updated: 2006-08-25 13:39
TAIPEI - Taiwan will inaugurate a new organization to negotiate tourism
arrangements with the mainland, a senior official said Friday, expressing the
hope that more visitors from the mainland will begin arriving in the island by
the end of the year.
Joseph Wu, head of the cabinet-level "Mainland
Affairs Council", said the Taiwan Strait Traveling and Tourism Association will
try to put into practice Taiwan's long-standing policy of opening its doors to
mainland tourists.
"We hope to begin negotiations with the mainland on
the issue as soon as possible and I believe it could be implemented by the end
of this year," Wu said.
The new Taiwanese organization is to act as a
counterpart to a semiofficial group China inaugurated early this month, he
said.
Taiwan hopes Beijing will agree to list the island as an
officially approved tourism destination for mainlanders, Wu said. Lack of that
designation compels mainland tourists to arrive in the island from another
tourist destination, and to travel only in groups.
For its part, the
mainland is pressing Taiwan to allow mainlanders to arrive on the island on
direct charter flights, instead of transiting through Hong Kong or another third
point. Taiwan has yet to agree to that demand.
Both Taiwan and the
mainland "have expressed the hope to expand tourism and we feel the timing has
become more ripe recently," Wu said. He did not elaborate.
As part of
Taiwan's tourist promotion activities for mainland visitors, authorities are
considering relaxing a number of restrictions, including the exchange of the
Chinese currency in Taiwan, Wu said.
According to the Mainland Affairs
Council, 173,000 mainlanders came to Taiwan last year, while 4.1 million
Taiwanese visited the mainland.
Taiwan tourism promoters believe that a
tourism agreement with the mainland will bring about at least a doubling in the
number of mainland visitors during the first year.
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