TAIPEI (Taiwan News) -- After Beijing announced that there would be a ban imposed on individual Chinese travelers to Taiwan, tourism experts predict that it will result in 700,000 fewer Chinese tourists visiting Taiwan over the next six months and is likely motivated to influence Taiwan's upcoming elections in 2020.
China's Ministry of Culture and Tourism announced on Wednesday (July 31) that due to the current state of cross-strait relations, applications for and the issuance of individual travel visas to Taiwan will be suspended for residents of 47 cities in China, effective on Thursday (Aug. 1).
Many are speculating that Taiwan's upcoming general elections in 2020 could be the rationale for implementing the restrictions. Others believe that it is punishment for Taiwan's support of Hong Kong's anti-extradition law protests.
Ko Mu-chou (柯牧洲), vice president of Taiwan Tourism Development Association, said that the new restriction seems to be affecting freedom of movement and may also affect group tours. Ko estimates that this new restriction could reduce the number of Chinese tourists visiting Taiwan by 700,000 between August of this year and February next year.
Ko said China used to only place restrictions on tour groups. This time, it stopped issuing individual permits, which is "very, very unusual," said Ko.
UDN cited Roget Hsu (許高慶), chairman of the Taiwan International Tourist Aid Rescue Association, as saying that this is not the first time China has placed some restrictions on individual travelers to Taiwan, but it is the first time since 2015.
Hsu said he believes that the suspension was implemented with Taiwan's upcoming election in mind. He said that as China places great importance on the 2020 election, it is no surprise restrictions have been put in place again.
Kao Ming-tu (高洺塗), advisor to Taiwan's travel agent association, said the reduction in travelers in 2015 was just "blowing hot air," but this time, it was a big move by Chinese work units to make it clear that no permits would be issued, reported UDN. "The effect is very is very large and the timing of the ban is also much earlier; when individual travelers are banned, it will also be easier to control the size of tour groups, and the intention of affecting Taiwan's election is quite obvious," said Kao.
Chinese tourism to Taiwan had actually been on the upswing this year, with the number of Chinese tourists visiting Taiwan reaching 1.67 million in the first half of this year. This represented an increase of 30 percent over the same period last year, according to Taiwan's Tourism Bureau.
Individual travelers peaked in 2014. (CNA chart)
Chang Shi-chung (張錫聰), deputy director-general of the Tourism Bureau, said the Chinese tourism market is highly unstable, with a growth rate of 35 to 37 percent from January to July of this year, but a likely drop in the second half due to the election, reported Apple Daily. "Therefore, Taiwan has actively developed a diversified market in recent years to avoid putting too many eggs in the same basket," said Chang.
The so-called "self-guided travel" for individual Chinese visiting Taiwan first went into effect in 2011. The validity period for an individual entry permit issued by China to visit Taiwan has been six months.
In response to the ban, Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs posted a sarcastic, defiant tweet saying "How very sad!" and that Chinese tourists should be allowed to visit a country "where freedom, openness, and tolerance are the order of the day."
Beijing has banned its people from visiting #Taiwan as individual tourists. How very sad! They should be allowed to join more & more travelers from around the world in experiencing a country where freedom, openness & tolerance are the order of the day. What's to fear? JW pic.twitter.com/Wb9yc2WfLp
— 外交部 Ministry of Foreign Affairs, ROC (Taiwan)
