Taiwan 'welcomes' China's plan to resume group travel on limited basis

Taipei, Jan. 17 (CNA) Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has cautiously welcomed an announcement by Chinese authorities on their plan to resume group travel to Taiwan for residents of Shanghai and Fujian province.

"The (Taiwanese) government welcomes Chinese tourists to visit Taiwan," the MAC said in a statement on Friday.

"However, the specifics of implementation are still pending the Chinese authorities' announcement of specific measures," the council said.

The MAC also urged Chinese authorities to open communications on issues related to tourism safety, quality, and stability with Taiwan through the Taiwan Strait Tourism Association (TSTA) and the Association For Tourism Exchange Across The Taiwan Straits (ATETS).

"This will help ensure the smooth resumption of tourism exchanges in the future," the MAC said.

The TSTA and ATETS were established by Taipei and Beijing, respectively, to facilitate coordination and negotiations between the two sides on tourism.

The MAC's statement came in response to an announcement made by China's Ministry of Culture and Tourism (MCT) early Friday, in which it said China's government will "soon resume group travel to Taiwan for residents of Fujian province and Shanghai."

The purpose of the resumption is to "further promote the normalization of interaction between individuals across the Taiwan Strait and the regularization of (cross-strait) exchanges in various fields," the MCT said.

It was also aimed at responding to the "strong expectations" of grassroots communities and the tourism industry in Taiwan, it said.

The MCT said it hoped the tourism sectors on both sides will strengthen communication and coordination to provide high-quality services and products for Chinese residents visiting Taiwan as part of group tours, without elaborating on the communications it foresaw.

In 2019, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Chinese visitors accounted for around a quarter of all foreign visitors to Taiwan, but that source of tourism income has all but dried up, with independent or group travel largely frozen by the Chinese authorities for over four years.

The MCT currently only allows Fujian residents to visit Taiwan-held Kinmen and Matsu, but not other cities or counties in Taiwan, belying China's stated interest Friday of regularizing exchanges.

Meanwhile, Chen Binhua (陳斌華), spokesperson for China's Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO), the MAC's counterpart in China, also said in a statement that the TAO "actively supports and would be glad to see the outcome (of the resumption)."

Chen hoped that "the Democratic Progressive Party authorities will acknowledge mainstream public opinion and the voices of the industry on the island" and lift the ban on Taiwanese group travel to China as soon as possible while fully restoring passenger flight routes.