Tourism reps call for more exchanges at KMT-CCP think tank forum

Taipei, Feb. 3 (CNA) Representatives from Taiwan's tourism industry attending a forum organized by think tanks run by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the Kuomintang (KMT) in Beijing on Tuesday said they hope to expand cross-strait exchanges.

The forum, titled "Prospects for Cross-Strait Exchange and Cooperation," was jointly organized by the Cross-Strait Relations Research Center of the CCP's Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) and the KMT's National Policy Foundation (NPF).

The KMT-CCP think tank forum is widely viewed as a warm-up for a meeting between KMT leader Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) and CCP leader Xi Jinping (習近平) which is expected to take place in the first half of this year.

Lai Se-jen (賴瑟珍), founding chairperson and director of the Taiwan Tourism Interchange Association (TTIA), said 15 tourism-related participants joined the KMT delegation, representing the travel sector, hotel industry, catering sector, tour guides and the meetings and exhibitions sector.

Lai said Taiwan tourism operators strongly hope to expand cross-strait exchanges and they raised five proposals during group discussions at the forum.

The proposals include lifting the ban on group tours, expanding exchanges and cooperation between private organizations and industries, and gradually broadening direct travel links for Chinese residents outside Fujian Province to enter Kinmen County and the Matsu Islands (Lienchiang County).

The proposals also call for promoting group tours from Shanghai and Fujian Province to Taiwan, and for improving the quality of services while strengthening safety and consumer rights protections for Taiwanese travelers to China, Lai said.

Lai added that current flight services and flight destinations are insufficient and should be adjusted based on actual market demand.

She said this includes allowing airlines to adjust routes and frequency to meet demand, with the goal of normalizing sea and air transport as soon as possible.

Taiwan's government has repeatedly stressed that restoring cross-strait tourism requires prior communication through the "Two Small Associations," referring to tourism-specific bodies connected to the Taiwan-based Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) and the China-based Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS).

Lifting the ban on group tours must be premised on China guaranteeing the safety of Taiwanese travelers, Taiwanese government officials have said.

Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council (MAC), which handles Taiwan's relations with China, said that in 2025 there were 221 cases of Taiwanese citizens going missing, being detained for questioning, or having their personal freedom restricted while in China -- a fourfold increase from 2024.

The MAC urged the public to be mindful of risks when traveling to China and called on Beijing to promptly reopen tourism links through negotiations between the two small associations.

Currently, Taiwan only allows Chinese tourists to visit the island via third locations, but permits group and individual travelers from Fujian Province to visit Kinmen County and the Matsu Islands.

While Taiwan does not restrict its citizens from traveling independently to China, the ban on group tours has not been lifted.

The ban on group tours began in 2020, when Taiwan suspended travel agencies' operations for China-bound group tours due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Although the authorities announced in late 2023 that the ban would be lifted starting in March 2024, the government has continued to prohibit group tours to China amid worsening cross-strait relations.