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FIT program shows
¡¥dismal¡¦ results
¡¥MEAGER PROFITS¡¦: From June 28 through Sept. 30,
an average of 90 of the Chinese travelers entered Taiwan per day, or 18 percent
of the 500 daily limit
By Lin Chia-chi / Staff Reporter
The number of free independent travelers (FIT) from China who visited Taiwan
during the first 100 days of the program has only reached 18 percent of the
total allowed, National Immigration Agency statistics showed.
The reason the FIT program is showing such ¡§dismal¡¨ results is because the
government rushed into it without initiating adequate supplementary measures,
members of the tourism industry said.
While senior government officials in Taiwan and China have been spouting
slogans, the tourism industry has suffered, they said.
Sept. 30 marked the 100th day since Taiwan first began allowing FITs to visit.
Several hoteliers have spent substantial amounts of money remodeling in
anticipation of a flood of Chinese FITs and now they do not know when, or if,
they will recoup their money, tourism industry officials said.
Chen Chr-ji (³¯¼U¦N), associate professor at Shih Hsin University¡¦s Department of
Tourism, said the tourism industry had entered a stage of ¡§meager profits.¡¨
The industry is being sacrificed for the sake of politics ¡§and with Chinese
tourist arrivals showing such dismal numbers, the government must make policy
adjustments,¡¨ Chen said.
Agency statistics show that 14,013 Chinese tourists applied to be an FIT from
June 28 through Sept. 30, of which 13,362 were approved. However, only 8,535
entered Taiwan proper, on average about 90 per day, or 18 percent of the 500
allowed daily under the program.
Tourism Bureau Secretary-General Chang Hsi-tsung (±i¿üÁo) said the FIT program was
still in an integration period.
The low number of FITs is because of a troublesome process on the Chinese side
and the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) is scheduled to hold a meeting to review
the matter, Chang said.
¡§We¡¦re debating whether to expand the number of try-out cities and we will also
recommend allowing applications for FIT status abroad, as well as simplifying
the process to entice more Chinese tourists,¡¨ Chang said. ¡§We hope that everyone
will deal with the issue calmly.¡¨
Sources said the FIT policy review could include an increase or decrease in the
maximum number of visitors allowed per day.
While the limit would not likely be increased in the short term, the possibility
of it being decreased is real, a source said.
The National Immigration Agency said this week coincides with the Oct. 1 holiday
period in China, a peak period for tourists, and the number of people applying
for FIT permits has been increasing.
There were 527 Chinese FITs in Taiwan last Saturday and 633 on Sunday, which
shows that people are taking advantage of the holiday period, the agency said.
However, government data showed that the number dropped to 434 on Monday and 296
on Tuesday.
After the holiday period, the number of Chinese tourists should fall again, Chen
said, adding that efforts by the government to boost the numbers by using one
short holiday period were meaningless.
The government should focus instead on the total profits and benefits in a
three-month period, Chen said.
Some tourism industry members had said prior to the implementation of the
program that annual profits from FITs could reach between NT$13 billion (US$424
million) and NT$14 billion within a year.
¡§The government made everything look nice, but in fact it doesn¡¦t have the
supplementary measures to make everything work, including problems such as the
complex processing of FIT applications and responsibility issues when Chinese
tourists overstay,¡¨ Lion Travel domestic tourism products department manger Lee
Cheng-tsung (§õ¥¿Áo) said.
Translated by Jake Chung, staff writer
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