Beijing to limit tourists over polls: travel agents

By Shelley Shan  /  Staff reporter

Travel agents yesterday confirmed Beijing has placed restrictions on the number of Chinese tourists allowed to visit Taiwan between Dec. 16 and Jan. 15 next year to allow more Taiwanese businesspeople living in China to return and vote in the elections.

Taipei Association of Travel Agents deputy chairman Ko Muchou (柯牧洲) said the Chinese government has informed tourism bureaus at its municipal and provincial governments that the number of tourists must be reduced by 95 percent during the period.

While China has enforced a similar measure before previous presidential elections, Ko said that the percentage is slightly higher this year, adding that they were told the cross-strait flights must have enough seats for Taiwanese businesspeople to return and cast their votes.

Some travel agencies said the policy would would begin to affect business next month, predicting that the number of Chinese visitors would drop by between 30 and 50 percent.

The Tourism Bureau said that Beijing has said only that it plans to inform both Chinese travel agencies and tourists that they should avoid conflict with Taiwanese and bypass election campaign rallies.

China would only restrict the visits of Chinese officials before the election so that the visits would not be construed as political in nature, the bureau said, adding that the restriction does not apply to regular Chinese tourists.

The applications for entry permits to Taiwan filed by Chinese travel agencies are already backlogged to Nov. 9, the bureau said, adding that 6.7 million Chinese tourists visited Taiwan between January and August.