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EDITORIAL: Falling
for the billion-dollar mirage
There were two reminders this week that the oft-touted Chinese bonanza that
Taiwan was supposed to reap from the government’s steamroller drive toward
closer cross-strait ties might not be quite the pot of gold so many have claimed
or hoped. Despite its linguistic and cultural ties, it appears Taiwan is simply
the latest country to be taken in by the “billion-dollar Chinese market” mirage.
The Tourism Bureau announced on Thursday that Chinese tourist arrivals were down
30 percent last month compared with June last year, while May had seen a 16
percent drop from the year before. A Ministry of Education official said 975
Chinese students would enroll at private universities for the fall semester,
although 2,141 slots had been approved and schools had accepted 1,263.
Many reasons have been given for the reduction in tourists: everything from
health and safety worries — the plasticizer scare and the Alishan (阿里山)
derailment — to renewed competition from neighboring countries, while the low
student turnout was blamed on a lack of publicity. More worrying was the comment
from an associate professor at Tamkang University, who said more than 1,000
Chinese high schools had a single token graduate apply for a spot at a Taiwanese
school — an indication that without pressure from Beijing, Taiwan might be
seeing only 200 or 300 students this fall, if any.
However, the truth of the matter is that the number of potential tourists, just
like the number of potential students, has always been unrealistic, as have the
expectations that an influx of Chinese tourists would rejuvenate the economy.
Official statistics showed there were 1.63 million Chinese visitors last year,
or an average of 4,560 a day — more than the 3,000 daily limit when Taiwan first
opened its doors to Chinese tour groups in mid-2008, but a far cry from the
revised quota of 7,200 or the 10,000 a day President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) once
envisioned. Likewise, the launch of the Chinese free independent travel program
is unlikely to achieve the touted 90,000 visitors by the end of this year.
When regular cross-strait charter flights were announced in June 2008, it turned
out none of the Chinese airlines involved were interested in flights to
Kaohsiung and only one wanted to fly to Hualien. Lawmakers and local leaders in
central and southern Taiwan complained that they were being overlooked, but the
truth was and is that what Chinese tourists want to see first are the big
attractions — the National Palace Museum and Taipei 101 in Taipei, Alishan, Sun
Moon Lake and Taroko Gorge. It is the same the world over — just as tourists to
China head straight for the Forbidden City and the Great Wall, while visitors to
Egypt focus on Cairo and the pyramids.
There are many other things to see in those countries, but when travelers are
making their first visit to a country and time is short, they want to see the
sites that everyone knows.
Ministry of Education and university officials, likewise, should not have been
surprised that most of the Chinese students wanted to go to schools in Taipei
and none were interested in National Penghu University of Science and
Technology.
If Taiwan really wants to compete in the Chinese market, whether for tourists or
students, it is going to have to tailor its offerings to what the Chinese want.
That means accepting that Taipei will remain the top spot for first-time
visitors.
However, Greater Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu’s (陳菊) idea of turning the Republic of
China (ROC) Military Academy, the ROC Air Force Academy and the ROC Naval
Academy in her city into must-sees for Chinese tourists should be left on the
drawing board. The “special interest” Chinese tourists who would rush to see
those institutions are probably not the ones we want to be encouraging.
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