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ANALYSIS: Government
should focus more on international tourists: industry
ONE BASKET: Tourists from countries other than
China should also be courted, the tourism industry said, as the FIT program has
not been as successful as hoped
By Lin Chia-chi / Staff Reporter
“Don’t place all your eggs in one basket,” is the call the tourism industry and
academics are sending to President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration about its
tourism policy.
Saying that Taiwan saw 5 million foreign tourists visit last year, Lion Travel’s
domestic tourism products department manager Lee Cheng-tsung (李正聰) suggested
that the government should be focusing on how to draw more international
tourists to Taiwan, instead of focusing solely on Chinese tourists.
The free independent travelers (FIT) program, that allows Chinese tourists to
visit Taiwan individually, was launched on June 28.
The National Immigration Agency’s statistics show that 14,013 independent
Chinese tourists applied for visits from June 28 through Sept. 30, of which
13,362 applications were approved. However, only 8,535 entered Taiwan, averaging
about 90 persons per day, or 18 percent of the 500 tourists allowed per day
under the program.
Chen Chr-ji (陳墀吉), associate professor at Shih Hsin University’s Department of
Tourism, said that China only opened up a few try-out cities under the FIT
program, showing that China is not turning to the free tourism market.
not predictable
China is using this as a political tool and for Taiwan it means that the number
of independent Chinese tourists to Taiwan rise and fall with no predictable
trend, he said.
Taiwan’s international tourism profits more from neighboring Asian countries
while profits from Europe or the US are not obvious, Chen said, adding that just
last year, the biggest growth in international tourists was from Malaysia,
Thailand, Japan and South Korea.
Taiwan should have a clearly defined tourism policy, Chen said, adding: “But our
current tourism policy is not clearly defined, and we are over-eager for Chinese
tourists to come to Taiwan. This is like putting all your eggs in one basket,
carrying great risk.”
According to Chen, the Taiwanese market is faced with mixing a mature market
with an emerging one, which leads to concerns that the qualities of tours are
being sacrificed.
The government should therefore help the tourism industry plan clear tourism
goals and routes, and not just lead Chinese tourists to Taiwan for a rushed
glimpse of the country, as this would not profit the industry but harm the
quality of tourism in Taiwan, Chen said.
little money
Other tourism industry members also complained that travel agencies can’t really
make any money from independent Chinese tourists, adding that at most they only
get small additional fees by helping with booking hotels and plane tickets,
which are tightly controlled by the Chinese government.
Taiwan’s tourism market should also cater for non-Chinese tourists, Lee said,
adding that opening the tourist market to Chinese tourists in the past two years
had alienated other foreign tourists in some scenic areas.
Places like Alishan (阿里山), Sun Moon Lake (日月潭) and Shihlin Night Market have
been swamped by Chinese tourists, which lowers the inclination of other foreign
tourists to go there, and even Taiwanese citizens tend to avoid these areas when
planning a domestic trip, according to Lee.
Chen Chen-hung (陳振宏), a representative of Comfort Travel Service Co, added that
since the FIT program is still in its initial stages, the days that Chinese
independent tourists were staying in Taiwan ranged from three to 14 days.
“We haven’t yet found the most ‘common’ number of days [Chinese tourists spend
in Taiwan,]” he said.
With the dismal number of Chinese FIT tourists per day, it means that the
profitability of the FIT is yet to be determined, he added.
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